Soldiers of Lylat
by Vantage77
Summary: During an anti-piracy operation, Corneria attacks the Sphere Alliance and causes a huge intergalactic incident. Now in an attempt to secure peace Corneria has agreed to let a small group of humans into the prestigious Corneria Military Academy as a show of inclusion and cooperation. However, how will a peaceful Lylat react to soldier born for war? OCx Multiple, OCx Multiple.
1. Chapter 1: What we have here is

**Chapter 1: Contact**

Captain Mario Santize sighed as his frigate group scanned another empty sector in the hopes of finding their prey. The male boar was Captain of the Cornerian Frigate-class ship Praetor, one of the many ships of the Cornerian 3rd Fleet. Lately, some pirate group calling themselves the Sons of Carnage had been causing problems for commercial ships operating near the edge of the Lylat system and in response, Corneria High Command had deployed elements of the Cornerian 3rd and 4th fleet to search for wherever this group had been operating from. Santize was commanding one of these small elements composed of the CMS Preator and two other frigates the CMS Despot and the CMS Harpy, a duty he was hating with each uneventful day.

Santize had joined the military right out of high school and after barely passing officer training had worked his way up from 2nd Lieutenant to captaining his own ship. However, Santize was not content with his current posting, if he retired today he could afford a modest house and take up a part-time job to live out his post-military career but he wanted more. Firstly, there was no great fame or honor in being a frigate captain and it wouldn't pay for the large manor he could retire to that he had dreamed about when he entered the service. No, Santize wanted admiration people going to him for sagely advise, for books to reference his brilliance, for females to swoon at the dashing Captain, no Admiral!

However, Lylat hadn't seen a major conflict since the Civil War one hundred and fifty years ago. Most conflicts now were against pirates and smugglers and possessed little threat against the might of any of the systems regular military forces. This atmosphere while good for his own survivability was not conducive for promotion or fame and glory. Santize had been a Captain for five years and if he wanted to be promoted he needed to impress high command and to do that he needed to find these pirates.

Looking at his tactical map on the arm of his command chair he considered his options and decided now was the time to take a gamble. "Helmsman plot a course just outside of our Controlled space and set the scanners for max range, these pieces of scum might be operating just outside of Lylat space."

The zebra at the controls plotted the new course before the male tiger next to him manning the communications spoke up "Sir, Captain Lynn is on the horn."

Santize sighed before nodding "On screen" soon the image of a female cheetah appeared before him sitting in a captain's chair like his. Santize would willing admit that Captain Rachel Lynn was a true beauty with her lithe form barely concealed by her captains' uniform that had captured the attention of all who looked upon it. Her long blond hair fell to her lower back and her amber colored eyes looked both mesmerizing and yet carried a predatory gaze that sent a pleasant shiver down the backs of all males. Despite the pleasant view, he was presented Santize grimaced ever since she had been put under his command the younger officer had been a thorn in his side always trying to reign him in from skirting regulations. Now Santize had the feeling that this call was going to be much the same.

"Captain Santize why have we adjusted course to leave the Lylat system? It's strictly forbidden to do so without approval from high command." Lynn asked with a tone that sounded innocent but had a scything undertone that made Santize's fur bristle in agitation.

"The pirates could be operating outside Lylat space to avoid detection. I'm simply going to have our group probe the area to make sure that we won't miss them." Santize growled in agitation.

Lynn nodded condescendingly "I see and should I also take the liberty of sending a message to Corneria Command to let them know of your… precaution?"

Santize had enough of the young female's cheek "Captain Lynn, I am the commander of this patrol group and therefore I will determine when to contact Command about my actions! In addition, I've had enough of you questioning my actions, if you do so again I will consider it an act of insubordination. Are we clear!?"

Lynn glared defiantly at him before stiffly nodding her head "Of course…sir" she said before Santize ended the call. The boar breathed deeply raining in his temper before calming down enough to see that his group was crossing outside of Lylat space.

"Sir" a yell from the sensor officer's console rose up "sensors have picked up something at max range bearing 42 degrees to port 32 degrees down. At current speed, we should reach it within two hours' time."

Santize beamed in triumph "Helm set a course for the unknown and go to battle stations. Communications send word to the Harpy and Despot that we have found the enemy. Also, inform Lynn that she can relay the good news to Corneria Command." Santize relayed smugly as the three frigates maneuvered toward the signal.

X 1 hour fifty minutes later X

Captain Rachel Lynn stared out the view display at the distant image of a space station appeared before the patrol group. The female cheetah tapped the arm of her command chair in thought as something about the station didn't feel right. While it was typical of pirates to operate from stations like the one before them there were two defining issues with the scenario playing out around her. Firstly, for a supposed pirate base it was in relatively good condition with evidence of being well maintained, secondly the station's fighters were not patrolling the station but instead moving about a small cluster of asteroids and eventually moving to the station. The whole set up reminded her more of a mining operation than a mercenary port but Santize was convinced that even if it was for mining it was still highly illegal and likely operated by the Pirates for raw resources.

"Ma'am, Captain Santize has ordered the attack and for our ship to hold back in reserve." Her comms officer announced.

Lynn huffed in agitation knowing full well that the Boar was keeping her ship, CMS Despot, out of the combat to spite for her questioning his actions. However, from what Lynn had seen from Santize in the two months she had been put under his command she knew that he was too egotistical and brash for her liking not to mention a mediocre officer. When she had first been placed under his command the Boar had tried to flirt and impress her with his years of experience and position as her superior. He even had the gall to suggest in private that if she were to reciprocate his advances it might influence his recommendation of her in his report to command. However, Rachel Lynn was not some desperate and naïve officer.

Rachel had graduated at the top of her class from officer's school at the Corneria Military Academy and had reached the rank of Captain in only two years. The only reason she had been kept at such a low position as a Frigate captain was that Corneria's Military was still rather sexist though that was quickly dying out as more and more females joining the officer ranks. Rachel Lynn was intelligent and so she had hinted that she would think about it to the Boar before returning to her own ship and then give her reply by being a constant hindrance to the Boar's ego and reminding him of the 'proper' way of commanding a patrol, the Boar had understood the message loud and clear.

Now as she watched the two other frigates close distance with the station while the Despot sat back Halsey had a sudden sense of foreboding. "Communications send a message to the 3rd Fleet and Corneria Command tell them our location and that Captain Santize has ordered an attack on a non-registered station operating outside Lylat." She ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" The communications officer replied before sending the message toward Corneria.

Halsey watched as the two frigates began firing at the station which didn't seem to respond at first before opening with a series of small lasers that hit the two ships shields harmlessly. Rachel at first thought that the pirates installed a series of defensive lasers in the station but suddenly realized with alarm that it was actually only two small turrets that were putting up a rate of fire that their own lasers couldn't do in their best day. Halsey realized that the turrets were more advanced than their own but much less powerful, though there was no reason for the pirates to have such an advanced system.

"I don't like this" she murmured with rising unease as the two frigates managed to overcome the station's shields.

X Aboard CMS Praetor X

The CMS Praetor and the CMS Harpy where typical Frigate class ships stretching only five hundred meters long and one hundred fifty meters wide they held only thirty to fifty crew members and had little armor and shielding. They were also lightly armed with only four forward facing light anti-ship lasers and three anti-strike craft lasers turrets they wouldn't usually be able to hold up in a stand-up fight with heavier ships being nearly one-shot by anything bigger than a heavy cruiser would destroy them. The ships only saving grace was its speed and maneuverability compared to other heavier vessels, this combined with being relatively cheap to make made them the go-to patrol vessels able to take down even heavy craft if sent with larger numbers.

As Santize watched his two-frigate force begin firing on the dilapidated station he knew that even with their minimal armor and shielding he had nothing to fear from this pirate station, that was until it started firing back with a pair of small laser turrets that fired three times for every one of theirs. "Sir, CMS Harpy reports shields down to fifty percent!" one of his bridge crew announced in amazement. Santize didn't blame him the station's turrets were firing at a rate that no pirate equipment should have been able to. Thankfully the weapons didn't seem to pack as much as their own and their shields were stronger as apparent by the sight of the station's superstructure suddenly taking damage from their fire, its shield only able to withstand three of his ships combined salvos.

Santize though knew there was something more to this "Someone has to be backing these scum for them to get equipment of that caliber." He stated to himself but loud enough for the bridge crew to hear him.

"Sir, detecting craft leaving the station they look to escape craft." His sensors officer relayed.

Seeing a chance to capture or kill the pirate leaders Santize issued orders. "Order the Harpy to intercept but leave one or two shuttles to escape. We will follow them from a distance and let them take us right to whoever is backing them!" he shouted in triumph. "Soon, soon I'll have the admiration and glory I deserve," he thought.

X Aboard LCC Mining Station B-1358X

It had been a normal day for the clone known as Jackson-2534. He was the only member of the control deck crew at his station after the others went for their lunch break and so when three unknown contact jumped in the system his reaction to their presence had been delayed due to running to the various stations to complete different tasks. First, he had run a ship analysis to identify the craft which had turned up nothing and raised a series of large alarm bells in his head. The second thing was to sound a general alarm to wake the crew and alert them to something being wrong. About this time two of the ships were moving toward the station while the third held back for some reason. So Jackson had tried to contact the ships to ask for their affiliation and intentions but the craft didn't respond to his hails either suggesting they were ignoring him or lacked both tight beam and TDal communication systems. It was after this attempt that the leading two ships began to fire upon the station.

Jackson-2534 desperately worked the communications station on the control deck. Just five minutes ago a trio of the unknown craft appeared on their sensors max range, ignored or didn't register the station's attempts to communicate and then began firing on them. The station itself was one of many like it at the fringes of Frontier space and thus was barely maintained with only a couple mining lasers for defense and a token shielding system to protect from debris. The station itself was mostly automated with only fifty or so human employees handling the critical systems while drones did the actual mining and refining.

Now with the station's shields being overwhelmed Jackson-2534 feverishly worked to send a message to the Inner Systems. "I say again this is the LCC Frontier Mining Station B-1358 we have been attacked by three unknown craft with no matching analogies on our servers believed to be alien in origin! Communications attempts have met with no response and our shields have been overwhelmed, we are sending the sensor date and ship analysis with this message! We are abandoning the station I repeat we are abandoning the station and sending our escape shuttles to sector 28932 on the viable planet we found on our long-range scanners! Please send forces and rescue to sector 28932! Jackson-2534 out." Jackson said before turning on the station's intercom "All hands to your escape craft! Abandon the station! Set course for sector 28932 immediately!"

Jackson watched as the first of five-shuttle launched from the emergency hanger and head away from the station. Normally he would have attempted to get to his own shuttle but the access tunnel from the control deck to the hanger had collapsed almost as soon as the shields fell. Jackson watched as the other shuttles launched and made their escape only for one of the two attacking ships to adjust course for an intercept.

Knowing that the ship would be able to take out two or three of the shuttles before they got out of range Jackson moved over to the drone control systems and ordered the drones to abandon their usual mining activities to charge at the ship.

"Eat this fucking Xeno's" Jackson shouted even as the other ship's weapons finally found the power core causing it to overload and explode taking the entirety of the control deck with it including a smirking Jackson-2534.

X CMS Despot, Command Bridge"

Halsey watched in bafflement as the station's core exploded in a bright flash and the CMS Harpy attempted to intercept what was obviously small unarmed escape craft on the orders of Santize. The Cornerian Military strictly forbids the attacking of escape craft but the boar had ordered it anyway stating that the leaders of the pirates were no doubt onboard.

As she watched the Harpy close the distance her sensor officer suddenly called out "Maim the drones in the asteroid belt are heading for the Harpy!" The officer announced obviously having come to the same conclusion that they were engaging a mining operation of some kind.

Halsey immediately stood up and began barking orders "Helm all ahead full, gunnery fire at those drones immediately!" Halsey ordered knowing that they wouldn't be able to stop most of them. Sure, enough even as the Despot and the Harpy's gunners downed a few of the fast-moving drones twenty or so fired their lasers punching through the ship's shields before plowing into the ship itself destroying its guns, engines, and bridge leaving the CMS Harpy crippled and bleeding atmosphere.

"Helm take us in abreast of the Harpy! All hands prepare for rescue operations!" Halsey ordered.

"Maim, Captain Santize has ordered us to stay and help with the Harpy while he tracks the escape craft and reports to command." Her comms officer announced.

Halsey growled doubting that the ego-driven Boar would submit a truthful report before an idea appeared in her head "Communications after we finish rescue operations I need you to send a tight beam message to Admiral Pepper in Sector Y."

X Three Days Later, Orbit over Cerinia X

If one could describe the planet of Cerinia it would be often referred to as a tropical paradise. The planet was sixty percent water and dotted with large and small islands with only two or three areas of land big enough to be called continents. These areas of land held a vast array of wildlife that flew, slithered, and crawled along the jungle floor and canopy. The planet also had a strange form of energy that permeated the area and helped support such a vast array of wildlife. However, there were one species on the planet that had not only gained sentiency but learned to harness the energy of their planet to develop telekinetic powers.

The people of this planet were also unique vulpines with varying hues of blue and white fur with elegant symbols they were born with. At first glance, the people of Cerinia would appear rather primitive with tribal-like clothing and heavy emphasis on spiritualism and a large number of pyramid-like shrines they built. However, in truth these people who called themselves Cerinians had already achieved space flight and constructed a single large space station and twenty or so interceptors. The reason for these precautions is that the Cerinian people had for many years detected strange signals from outside their own small solar system and so knew the possibility of a foreign threat. It was the royal family's duty to uphold the security and future of their people and so they along with their most accomplished warriors and scientists had formed the Guardians which constantly monitored and developed their sensors and space-born defenses.

Inside his throne room the King of Cerinia, King Dolis sighed from where he stood to gaze out the balcony at the large clusters of temples and small dwellings that poked out from the canopy of trees that made up the capital city of Cera. He had just finished approving the construction of new dwellings in another city and leading a large meditation ceremony at the head temple for his people.

"Is something the matter dear?" a melodious voice asked from behind him. Knowing the beautiful sound anywhere he turned and met the mesmerizing eyes of his Queen Meridia.

Many had called their union as the perfect marriage with Dolis being a renown warrior with a large frame of muscle but with a gentle and caring soul only matched by his intelligence and wisdom. He had been a member of the only son of the previous king and a highly respected member of the Guardians for nearly a decade before taking up the position of King after his father's passing. Only a year after taking up the title he had married Meridia who had been his lover for a couple years.

Meridia had been renown before their marriage as a High priestess and powerful telepath with a slender yet alluring figure and dark purple hair that had mesmerized thousands with her beauty. But Dolis knew her to be both a spiritual leader and an intellectual often keeping up their scientist's findings and even working with them to improve their understanding of the universe. In fact, it was Meridia that had discovered a whole new group of unknown signals with her Telepathic abilities. Apparently, the radio waves the regular scientists had discovered fifty years ago were coming from somewhere to their galactic south but only five years ago Meridia had revealed to them that she and a few other powerful Telepaths could detect some type of signals coming from their Galactic north using an energy similar to that of the energy surrounding Cerinia. However, they could not fully read the signals as they came and went with such a high speed that reading anything from them was nearly impossible.

"Nothing my dear, just focusing my mind before my next meeting with the head of the Guardians. Tell me where is Krystal? I would think she would be here for this meeting." Dolis asked his wife after giving her a small kiss.

Meridia smiled "Oh she will be down soon, you know our girl she's always training to be a guardian or catching up on the latest scientific journals, she's the combination of the two of us after all." Dolis smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Father, Mother!" a voice rang out along with the large door opening suddenly. The two royals tuned to see their thirteen-year-old daughter entering the room followed by a large male Cerinian the two knew as Firs the leader of the Guardians.

Hearing the alarm and concern in their daughter's voice and hard face of Firs the two moved to meet the pair halfway. "Krystal Firs, what is the matter?" Dolis asked with an authoritative tone that demanded a quick answer.

Firs was the one to respond "Your Excellencies, our long-range sensors have detected six unknown objects rapidly approaching Cerinia. Five of the leading ones appear to be small only a couple times large than an interceptor while the sixth seems to be shadowing them and is much larger being slightly smaller than half the size of the Cerinia Orbital Station (COS)." the male reported making the two freeze in shock.

Dolis shook off his shock and thought about the severity of the situation. "Have they attempted to contact us yet?"

Firs hesitated before nodding "Yes we have established rudimentary contact with the five-leading craft with our telepaths aid but are still working on interpreting their language. The sixth and largest contact however stopped and retreated before they were in range. However, our telepaths tell us they can feel a great deal of stress and anxiety from the individuals aboard the five craft."

Dolis nodded considering the new information "How long until they reach us?"

"Two days your majesty" Firs reported.

Dolis nodded before thinking a minute "Meridia my dear you are our strongest Telepath could you please journey to the COS and help in contacting these visitors, It sounds like they are in distress so please assure them we can provide our aid upon their arrival. Firs contact the Guardians and mobilize them. I want our interceptors on patrol and ready in case the meeting goes south. Also, mobilize our warriors to in preparation for a ground assault. I will be calling for a public announcement in four hours' time to tell our people." Dolis instructed.

"Father what of me?" Krystal asked in doubt wanting to be of help in such a serious situation.

Dolis looked his daughter in the eye "Krystal, I need you to go to the COS with your mother, you're a telepath but also a capable fighter and Guardian. Please protect your mother for me" he pleaded to covey his worry to her. Krystal seeing the desperation and worry in her father's gaze quickly nodded despite her own desire to board her own interceptor and join her comrades in their patrol. Seeing her nod Dolis smiled and gave her a kiss to her forehead "Thank you, my daughter, hopefully, this will be a time of great celebration for our people and not a calamity."

What the King did not know was that event was happening all over the galaxy that would affect his people. To Cerinia's Galactic south in the Lylat system, Corneria was mobilizing their third fleet after receiving a message from Captain Santize of finding a large Pirate base above a previously uncharted planet and a malevolent but genius primate was reworking his grand plan to incorporate this new development. Meanwhile to the galactic north, a distress message was being received and a quick response force was being deployed to the coordinates given to them while their government and military command organized a larger force to respond to an unprovoked attack to their people.

Wither the King knew it or not his planet would soon be host to a clash between two different peoples one an alliance of planetary governments and the other an unknown empire that had been rudely awoken.

 **Hello Everybody! For those of you that have read some of my work before you'll likely be reading this and going "Vantage is this a reboot of your old fic Guardians of Lylat?" well yes and no. You all will likely be seeing some of the same characters, but events and many details are being changed in this fic. I plan to start first with the Humanity-Lylat contact before moving on to the Academy. Also, I am changing the ages around a bit in this fic. First off right now most of the characters are in their early teenage years, also Fox's mother Vixy has not been killed by Andross who's part of the Cornerian science community is under investigation.**

 **Now here is some free information on the state of Lylat**

 **Lylat is divided with each individual planet having its own military and defense forces with a few exceptions that are planets unsuitable for life or used as a penal colony (Venom). Each planet though does participate in the Lylat Republic Council which is Lylat's version of the United Nations and has a representative from each planet. Corneria has by far, however, the largest military and so actively patrols areas around Lylat for pirates and other criminals. The other planets with representatives include McBeth, Zoness, Aquas, Papetoon, Eldard, Fortuna, Katina, and Kew along with the companies Space Dynamics Co., and recently Phoenix Arms. Lylat has been at peace for a long time though pirates and other criminals still present a minor threat. In addition, very little to no attempts have been made to leave the Lylat system as its outer edges have still not been fully explored (Cerinia) and colonizing what they have is still the priority.**

 **Anyway, until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2: A Failure to Communicate

**Chapter 2: A Failure to Communicate**

X Earth, Earth Sphere Alliance Council Room. 3 Days and 10 Hours After the Attack X

The Earth Sphere Alliance Council Room was usually a beautiful sight to behold. A vast chamber of white and grey marble with rows upon rows of desks meant to seat the figureheads of every large company, planetary government, and influential group. All these desks were arranged in a semicircle facing the raised center desk that sat the Emperor of Humanity and behind him the large depiction of the Sol system in stone.

The Emperor, Arthur Durham was the most celebrated Emperor in Humanities history. The fair-skinned man with blond hair and striking amethyst eyes held a natural regal air of authority that fit his title of Emperor which was only helped by the elaborate white and gold robes he wore. Arthur, however, was a man that had risen to power during the Clone and Corporate Wars, with his fleet and authority ending the Corporate War after twenty-three years of bitter fighting. He had been voted in as Emperor shortly after with everyone agreeing that his decisive leadership, forward-thinking, and political cunning made him the ideal choice as Emperor until he either died or abdicated the throne.

Now, however, Arthur watched on as the 362 other individuals in the room shouted at one another trying to push their opinion onto the majority. The reason for this was the attack on the LCC small asteroid mining station out on the fringes of the frontier. While losing an asteroid mining station wasn't unheard of and wouldn't be a big deal enough to even register the attention of the council the fact that the ships involved were unable to be identified was enough for it to at least be brought up. However, what had earned enough attention to cause the shouting and panic in the room was the Earth Sphere's intelligence divisions report that based on the data retrieved from the message they believed the ships were alien in nature. Thus, the room had descended into panic.

Arthur was also concerned but kept his cool with his head casually leaning against his hand and his eyes casually surveying the occupants of the room. Internally his mind was going over the information they had received. Humanity had just made its first contact with extraterrestrial life and it had been hostile, however, the enemy ships had struggled to breach the station's mediocre shields and the survivors had successfully managed to get to a remote system with a viable planet. However, the intelligence division's long-range surveillance sensors had focused on the system and detected signs of advanced life from the planet in question. The lifeboats should have already made it to the planet two hours ago and since they hadn't received a signal indicating the ships had been destroyed this presented the possibility that either the survivors had been captured or that impossibly they had encountered a second intelligent species.

Arthur was inclined to think the latter since the crews of at least one of the ships should have managed to scuttle it to prevent capture. While the news of a potentially friendly species was welcome Arthur knew that the chances of the enemy forces pursuing were high enough that action must be taken. Which meant he had to end the circus that was happening below him.

"Silence" Arthur said in a normal tone that usually wouldn't have even registered to the people below but the authority behind it quickly commanded all the delegates to become silence and stare at their Emperor. Arthur rarely spoke at the meetings, but he had grown tired of these people squabbling when time was of the essence. "This is not the time for petty arguing but instead action, my subjects are under threat and some have been slain by these barbaric aliens. While I am hopeful that the entities on the planet are benevolent and are helping my subjects, we must act as if our fellows are now captives. While LCC has dragged numerous civilian ships to the area with their call for aid a call I don't remember giving them" at this he shared a look with the head of the intelligence branch communicating to him to tell LCC of his disproval of their actions "However now we must ascertain the truth. Admiral Gilgrim, what is the closest force we have to the planet?" he asked a man wearing an all-white military uniform.

The Admiral stood up and addressed his lord with confidence "My Emperor, the 10th Patrol Fleet is in the Mece Sector and can be in the system within five hours" the admiral stated with confidence.

Arthur nodded slowly "Who is the commanding officer of that force?"

The admiral seemed to think for only a split second before replying "Rear Admiral Charles Steel is commanding the force, my emperor."

Arthur nodded again before sitting up straight and loudly announcing his orders "Admiral inform Rear Admiral Steel that by my order he is to proceed to the unnamed planet and guarantee the safety of my subjects. If the local Xeons are friendly, he is to proceed to open a diplomatic channel and ensure the safe transfer of my people and extend my personal assurance. If any aggressive action is taken toward my subjects however the guilty party is to be repelled by any means necessary and my subjects retrieved."

The Admiral saluted with his fist over his chest "By your well my emperor!"

X Frontier Space, 3 days and 12 hours after the attack X

Russ grumbled again as he waited in the cockpit of his Dire Wolf-Mk 5. The hanger his fighter was in was small barely enough room for his fighter, but Russ hadn't expected much from a corvette owned by a merchant. The client was a young rich aristocrat from some Inner Sphere world that had dreams of making it big and starting his own company by collecting and transporting Ether. To his credit the young man had dropped some serious finances into the endeavor, buying a medium sized luxury corvette with above average weaponry and an ether collection and storage unit. He had even decided to modify some of the lower level passenger areas to create a small hanger for a single escort fighter and then had contacted Raven's Loft to hire their best available pilot.

Raven's Loft was the go-to choice for anyone that needed mercenaries from a capital ship captain to ground infantry forces Raven's Loft was the place to go. Raven's Loft was a large moving space station, the largest constructed by humanity, that served as the home base for mercenaries across human space. The station itself also had a dedicated executive section that received mission requests and contacted the necessary pilots. It was thanks to this dedicated staff and the skill of its affiliated mercenaries called Ravens that had made the Raven's Loft brand a household name across all human space from the Core Worlds to the edges of the Frontier.

It was this prestige of his company that Russ knew his current client had dropped a pretty hefty sum to hire along someone of his skill level. He wasn't even bragging with his resume including three wars, seventy years of combat experience, a novel worth of notable achievements, and an even longer list of recommendations. It was not an exaggeration that he was one of the most experienced pilots in human space. Hell, if the kid had not been offering him a substantial markdown on Ether for taking the job Russ still might not have excepted his mission request.

Ether, however, was the lifeblood of human space, the small dust like substance was extremely hard to find but had an amazingly high energy yield. It was the discovery of this substance that allowed for humanity to reliably use Slip Space, a means of transport that involved ripping a hole in the fabric of space and accessing a pocket dimension before exiting in a far location. With it, space travel had not only been made much faster but also easily accessible if one could have enough Ether and a Slip Space Drive. Ether had such a high yield however that a single handful of it could power a slip space drive and an entire frigate size ship for three years. Which was why merchants who collected unclaimed Ether clouds in the far reaches of the Frontier would make ridiculously huge profits and the incentive of a heavy discount for Russ was a big draw toward accepting the contract.

The reason for Russ discomfort was that word had come down that LCC, a small start-up company in the Frontier had received a distress signal from one of their remote asteroid mining stations at the edges of the Frontier. The message apparently had stated the station was under attack by unknown ships and that the crew were boarding lifeboats and heading toward a planet in a nearby sector that had registered positive as being able to support life. While the matter of the unidentified ships was a matter for the Earth Sphere Alliance and its military to sort out LCC had asked nearby civilian ships to head to the planet and pick up their people. Completely ignoring or ignorant of the fact that the unidentified ships may very well decide to pursue the lifeboats. Unfortunately for Russ, his employer Edward something the fifth had decided to answer the call because "it would look good for his future companies PR".

"I'm so not getting paid enough for this," Russ muttered angerly as his employer told him they were exiting Slip Space and he was opening the hanger. Russ closed the lid to his canopy and readied himself for any type of scenario that could be just outside the hanger doors. He was confident in his skills and in his aircraft and if nothing else was armed for whatever the situation was outside.

The Dire Wolf was a product of the now destroyed Rayleonard company that had specialized in creating rare but highly advanced aircraft. The Dire Wolf had been one of their final creations before the company was destroyed along with the aircraft's blueprints during the Corporate Wars. The Dire Wolf Mk. 5 was a variant of the aircraft that included highly advanced sensors and targets systems built for a large variety of weapon systems to be equipped to the aircraft. This versatility combined with its air supremacy role and ridiculous performance made the aircraft utterly devastating on the battlefield if you found a pilot skilled enough to fly it. Unfortunately, all these advanced systems made the cost of building one of this craft astronomical thus the company didn't have enough to stop a rival company from destroying their headquarters. Now Russ had one of the few Dire Wolfs left, but it still dominated the battlespace.

As the hanger sirens rang out and the warning lights flashed yellow indicating the opening of the hanger door Russ powered his ship on and listened to the satisfying whine of its engines cycling on. Donning his helmet Russ pressed a switch on the side connecting the helmet's visor to the ship's sensors allowing the visor to light up displaying the crafts readouts before settling on an image of his radar on the bottom left of his vision along with his ammo and shield status on his bottom right and bottom center respectively.

"Fenrir here, systems are online, engines are green, ammo armed, ready to launch," Russ reported over the comm mike in his helmet as he retracted the landing struts and engaged his micro thrusters allowing his ship to hover off the ground about a foot. In front of him, the hanger doors began to open allowing him to see the stars glittering outside.

"Fenrir hanger doors are opening, your good to launch when the lights go green" Edward reported from the bridge before closing the connection likely having to deal with the situation outside. Ahead of him, the flashing yellow lights turned green signaling the hanger doors were completely opened. Russ pushed the throttle into sixty percent and rocketed out into the void.

X Cerinia Palace, War room X

King Dolis sighed in exasperation and stress at the situation he had found himself and his people in. The shuttles containing the panicking aliens had arrived a little more than a day ago and docked with the COS station. His wife Meridia had personally calmed the occupants down and had questioned them about their situation after the techs had figured out their language and rigged a rudimentary translation device.

Apparently, the aliens called themselves humans and belonged to some type of large empire. They had been asteroid miners before suddenly coming under attack by a trio of alien ships. The group had managed to flee before their station was destroyed and fled to Cerinia as they had detected a livable planet with their long-range sensors. When Meridia had told them about the larger contact trailing them they group had grown nervous and relayed that it was likely an enemy ship before asking if she and her people would protect them. King Dolis had been hesitant at first but Meridia had seemed insistent that they aid these humans and Dolis had agreed when one of the survivors told him that they had sent a distress call to their people and that support was likely on the way. So far, his people had been alarmed but understanding when Dolis had told them the situation and had rallied behind the decision to help the stranded humans. Dolis had never been so proud of his people as he was then.

Now Dolis had his forces ready and was waiting to see which side showed up first. It was only about an hour ago that he had received his answer as one after another a series of different types of ships arrive. Six of the vessels were just a little smaller than the COS station and identified themselves as armed merchant corvettes, the seventh one, however, was five times the size of the station and identified itself as a civilian cruise ship that had come to render assistance. Using their communications gear, they had just worked out that the seven ships were human civilian vessels that heard about the crew's plight and had come to help in their rescue.

Dolis had been hopeful that they would be able to transfer the humans softly but shortly after this one of the human vessels had reported detecting a large concentration of ships approaching the system and had asked if they belonged to them. Dolis knew they were not and quickly relayed the situation the human ships asking for their aid. The ship captains had seemed hesitant but had agreed after the captain of the cruise ship reported that his vessel wouldn't be ready in time to leave before the enemy ships arrived and asked King Dolis for permission to evacuate his passengers to Cerinia in case of a battle. Faced with the prospect of a large number of civilians in the crossfire the other ship captains had agreed to help defend the area until reinforcements arrived.

As of now, the six corvettes had arrayed themselves in a screen in front of the COS station and the cruise ship called the Solace. What few fighters the ships had were scrambled ahead to intercept enemy fighters and bombers. In total the defense of his planet was down to 16 human fighters, six human merchant vessels, 12 Cerinia Guardian fighters, a large civilian cruise ship with only defensive armament, and an unarmed research station. If these fell than the only defenders, they had left were the Cerinia ground forces which hadn't seen a war in a couple hundred years. Dolis could only hope help came soon.

X Just outside Cerinia Space, CMS Bold X

Acting Admiral Santize smugly gazed out of the viewport of the battleship CMS Victory that now served as his flagship. Once he had reported the escaping pirates had fled to a planet with a small orbital station Corneria command had quickly assembled the bulk of the 3rd Fleet and put him in charge of the force with the orders to sweep the planet of enemy forces. The forces at his disposal where fitting someone of his station with 4 Battleships, 6 cruisers, 15 frigates, and around 200 strike craft not to mention the twelve companies of Corneria Marines that were coming to engage the pirates ground forces.

While this may have seemed overkill Corneria Command knew that its combat forces hadn't seen action in a long while and so decided to use the opportunity to give their troops some experience. The news of the pending battle and the fate of CMS Harpy had both angered and emboldened the Corneria citizenry who had come to cheer off the departing ships and kept up to date on their progress. The support he had been given didn't end there as the genius inventor Andross himself had decided to lend Santize the experimental ship CXS Xerta that Andross had been outfitting with a new weapon he had wanted to test out. Hell, even the Star Fox team had come along to lend their expertise!

Santize himself had been undergoing interviews almost nonstop from a rampant media that hadn't seen this much excitement since a councilman was found passed out in a park naked after taking a staggering number of drugs. He had been lauded as the rising hero the boar who was going to take out the dastardly pirates. His favorite interview had been with Cornerian Tonight, a talk show with three very attractive female anchors. The show was very popular with young people especially females since the topics usually focused around fashion, gossip, movies, and celebrities. As a new celebrity himself, the show had interviewed him and asked him what his plans were regarding the pirate planet. He had stated with a joking tone that he couldn't tell them his military strategy but that after the battle he was thinking of getting the council to approve the planet for colonization. That little tidbit generated a lot of excitement in the civilian population and had now turned a simple pirate mop up into a potential colonization effort.

Now Santize looked outward at the planet they were approaching in the distance with slight surprise. Apparently, the pirates had called in a lot of their forces around the planet and now in addition to the space station they now had six unknown frigates and a large ship he was guessing was a troop carrier. His sensors officer also reported that the same transports that had fled the CMS Praetor appeared to be shuttling between the vessel and a location on the planet. "Hmph, no doubt trying to evacuate the equipment and personnel. Attention all vessels we will approach the position before holding and sending the fighter in first to seep away their fighter screen. After their forces have been sufficiently hammered, I want frigate groups one and two to step forward and finish their frigates while the cruiser CMS Feros takes out that enemy troop carrier and station. Afterward, all remaining vessels will cover the landing ships while they begin ground operations" Santize announced before remembering a feisty cheetah captain in the third frigate group. "Comms connect me with the Despot." The communications officer nodded before he started typing on his station and signaled, he was connected. Soon the image of an annoyed Rachel Lynn appeared the knowledge that his new rank angered her caused a feeling of immense satisfaction to wash over him. "Rachel be a dear and sit in the rear with your third frigate group and protect the rear, please. Thank you." He asked/ordered before hanging up, so he didn't have to listen to her attempt to lecture him on the protocol of addressing her without her rank.

Santize allowed a small chuckle to himself before the communications officer signaled, they were receiving a transmission from the planet. Telling the tiger to put it on screen he was told it was audio only before the message was passed through "Attention unidentified fleet, you are entering Cerinia space. State your identity and intentions" a deep male voice asked with a tone of authority.

Santize scoffed before replying "This is Admiral Santize of the Corneria Military we are here chasing your people for acts of piracy after destroying you staging base. Surrender now or face the might of the Cornerian Navy!"

The voice paused for a second before replying "This is King Dolis of Cerinia, the ships you are pursuing are miners and"

"I do not care for your excuses or false claims filthy pirate! We will destroy your forces and claim this world for the people who rightfully deserve it! Fighters move forward!" Santize cut the man off before ordering the attack and cutting the connection.

X Great Fox, Bridge X

"Thanks again for letting us use the bridge ROB." Jessica Greymane stated as she and her cameraman connected their recording equipment to the ship's exterior cameras, sensors, and communications equipment. Jessica was a news reporter for Corneria News Affiliates or CNA, the company had wanted to report on the battle live to audiences around Lylat and so had paid a large sum to hire Star Fox to transport their crew to the battle. The Great Fox was stationed well behind the rest of the fleet and thus far enough away for James McCloud to agree with the request.

ROB the Star Fox's robotic unit turned to them "THANKS ARE UNNESSICARY, CLIENT SATISFACTION IS A STAR FOX GUARANTEE" the robot drones before turning back to the sensors.

"Umm right, we ready Jack?" Jessica asked her cameraman who was pointing a camera at her, so she could address the people back home. Jack gave a thumbs up and reported they were live in ten seconds.

Jessica waited ten seconds as Jack gave a signal began speaking into the microphone. "Hello Lylat, this is Jessica Greyman and I'm here aboard the bridge of the Great Fox the mother ship of the Star Fox mercenary team. If you look out the bridge window you can see acting Admiral Santize's fleet approaching the planet with a few presumably pirate ships guarding a small space station and a troop transport." Jessica relayed as Jack zoomed the camera out the bridge window to view the distant fleet. "Behind the fleet, we can see the beautiful planet that the pirates have based out of and I for one can understand why Santize wanted to colonize it so much. Just look at those beaches! This could be the next vacation hotspot of Lylat!"

Rob turned to them "ADVISEMENT: ACTING ADMIRAL SANTIZE HAS ORDERED THE FIGHTERS TO ENGAGE."

Jessica turned back to the camera "Well looks like the action is about to kick off. Let's watch our troops show these pirates that Lylat won't tolerate their behavior in our system. ROB can you patch us into the pirate's communications?"

ROB seemed to consider the request before replying "WILL ATTEMPT TO INTERCEPT AND DECYPHER ENEMY COMMS"

X Orbit of Cerinia X

Russ had been flying escort for Edward's corvette while the merchant filled him in on the situation. Russ was understandably somewhat angry that his simple escort mission had turned into a front-line combat op but was ensured he would receive ample combat pay. When the enemy fleet was detected Russ immediately grouped up with the fighters already knowing that they would be used as a screen against their enemy counterparts.

Looking around the assembled fighters he noted that the majority where the Cerinian's silver fighters which were a teardrop shape and from what he could tell were only armed with forward facing lasers or some other type of energy weapon. The rest of the fighters were a smattering of human mercenaries the majority of which were from small freelance outfits popular in the Frontier. Like Russ himself, however, there were a four other Raven's that Russ wasted no time in joining.

"Fenrir here checking in" he reported on the established frequency that Edward had supplied him.

"Confirmed Fenrir this is the Solace, we see you've joined up with your fellow Raven's. From now on we are referring to you as Raven flight. Confirm?" a male voice that Russ suspected was from the Solace's communications officer stated.

"Fenrir copies all" Russ reported before returning to his radar and watching the approaching fleet. He could see a smattering of cruiserweights, frigates, and corvette sized ships but what really attracted his attention was the enemy fighters in the area. Over a hundred and fifty dotes were swarming around the enemy fleet in small groups. From what he could see of their speed they were slightly faster than the average human fighter but based on their wide loops and turns had minimal to no maneuverability.

"All aircraft be advised" the Solace communicated "the Cerinian's orbital station may relay combat information to you. Her designation is Cera and their fighters are Guardian's one through twelve. Updating your IFF's now." Russ watched as the friendly alien vessels switched to green icon on his radar indicating them as friendlies. "Cerinian craft human fighter groups are designated as Denim flight, Frisk flight, Cobalt flight, and Raven flight."

Suddenly a regal feminine voice came over the comm "This is Cera to all friendly craft negotiations have failed with the approaching fleet and they are moving to attack. Your mission is to protect the Solace and the station until evacuation off all civilian and personnel is complete. Stay safe out there and thank you again for assisting us in our time of need."

Russ thought the personal touch was rather nice but quickly decided to focus in on the approaching fleet and saw a group of the enemy fighters approaching. "This is Fenrir, the enemy is sending in a fighter wave to loosen us up. Raven flight is requesting permission to intercept."

"This is the Solace that's a negative Raven Flight. Denim and Cobalt flights will intercept the enemy fighters. We have detected a second larger group of strike craft approaching from a different vector. Chances are that the enemy is a squadron of bombers with fighter escort. Raven Flight, you are to engage this group does not let them near our formation." The Solace reported before sending him and the other four Ravens the location of the second group. Russ analyzed the signals and quickly deduced the enemies battle plan. The first group of forty fighters where likely meant to tie up their fighter screen while the sixty fighter/bomber unit bypassed the action and attacked their fleet directly.

Russ and the other Raven's banked right onto an intercept course while the radar showed the icon's for Cobalt and Denim flights engage the approaching enemies with missiles. Afterward, a significant number of enemy contacts disappeared. "This is Denim lead to all friendly craft, the enemy appears not to possess countermeasures" Russ gave a wicked smirk that was mirrored by all the other human pilots.

The playing field just became a lot more even.

X CMS Victory, command bridge X

Santize watched as half of his strike craft closed with the enemy, satisfied that his superior tactics would win the day over the pirates. However, his smile quickly faltered as instead of sending all their fighters to engage his distraction force of forty fighters the enemy only sent eight of their own. His smile was completely wiped off his face as the enemy craft launched some type of homing rockets that shot down eight of their craft from long range. Even the enemy seemed to hesitate in surprise before they began to fire more of the same weapon, getting two more salvo's off before the two groups merged.

Santize growled as his initial fighter force was taken from forty craft down to sixteen before having a chance to engage the enemy. "Send in reinforcements to the first group" Santize ordered "Send the 3rd and 4th fighter squadrons in now and deploy the first frigate group to the center. We'll go right up the middle if we have to!"

Santize watched as thirty more aircraft joined the center melee while four of his frigates pushed forward. The enemies use of advanced weapons was starting to grate on his nerves. Perhaps the pirates had discovered some advanced lost race on the planet and utilized their technology? If so then he may get promoted straight to the president of Corneria if he could acquire the tech for the Cornerian Army. Hell, he would be lauded as the man who revolutionized the Cornerian military! Emboldened by this thought Santize ordered the second part of his plan "Tell the bomber groups to engage! Circle around the left and take out those frigates!"

X Great Fox X

"The fighting has begun as both Cornerian and Pirate fighters duck it out. As you can see despite the numerical advantage the pirates are fighting hard but even now the Cornerian Navy is putting on the pressure and sending in addition fighters and a frigate pack." Jessica relayed to the camera as distant explosions and flashes of laser fire crisscrossed a distance away. While Jessica put on a brave and confident front for the audience, she had been slightly caught off guard by the loss of twenty-four Cornerian pilots in the opening seconds of the battle.

ROB suddenly spoke up from where he stood in the bridge. "ACTING ADMIRAL SANTIZE HAS ORDERED THE FLANKING ASSAULT ON THE ENEMY FLEET."

Jessica turned to the bridge window again as the camera showed a large group of fighters and bombers break off and begin moving around the left along with three frigates and a cruiser. "Well, viewer it looks like Admiral Santize is beginning his push. Has there been any response from the pirates ROB and where is Star Fox at this time?"

ROB turned to the female grey fox before replying "THE ENEMY FORCES HAVE SENT FIVE FIGHTERS TO INTERCEPT. PILOTS JAMES MCCLOUD, PIGMA DENGAR, AND PEPPY HARE ARE MOVING TOWARD THE CENTER BATTLE TO AID THE ALLIES THERE."

Jessica raised a brow as ROB whipped back to the command station at the same time explosions and laser fire started up on the left side of the battlefield. "Only five fighters? Well, folks looks like the pirates are trying to keep their frigates and cruiser out of harm's way but are pretty desperate. I mean any military strategist or pilot will tell you that five fighters against sixty with a frigate and cruiser support are suicidal odds th"

Jessica was cut off by a frantic call from ROB "ALL STAR FOX PILOTS DIVERT TO THE LEFT FLANK IMMEDIATELY! ALLIED FORCES SUFFERING EXTENSIVE CASUALTIES! BOMBER LOSSES ARE AT SEVENTY FI- EIGHTY-THREE PERCENT-… ALL BOMBERS LOST. ALLIED FIGHTERS ARE DOWN TO THIRTY-FIVE PERCENT STRENGTH. FRIGATE CMS DONLNT REPORTS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE- FRIGATE CMS DONLNT LOST."

Jessica and her stunned cameraman watched as the distant form of a Corneria frigate exploded as its power crystal ruptured. Around Lylat a sudden feeling of unease began to settle in.

X Orbit of Cerinia X

Russ smirked as another fighter was ripped apart by his craft's heavy cannons. The engagement with these aliens was almost unfairly in his favor. His aircraft was leagues more maneuverable, and still a fair bit faster than the ships of the enemies. This combined with his ships dominating sensors, threat identification, and terrifying payload meant he was shooting down hostiles left to right with pretty much impunity. Even the enemy corvette that tried to assault him was overwhelmed by a concentrated burst of his cannons.

However, it was this same frigate that gave him pause, he had noticed that all the enemy capital ships had this strange glowing crystal in the center of the ship. When he had seen it, the thing had screamed structural weakness and after shooting he was amazed that it had destroyed the whole ship. Deciding to find out what this painfully glaring weakness was Russ focused his sensors on the frigate nearby and nearly dropped his mouth in shock before keying his comms. "This is Fenrir be advised, the enemy ships are powered by a large crystal in the center of them that's a severe structural weakness. My sensors read it as crystalized Ether, I repeat enemy ships have large crystal Ether as their power source."

As Russ left his allies to ponder this new information, he reevaluated the enemy he was fighting. While the use of such a large power source was worrying about the fact that the enemy forces didn't have significantly more powerful engines and weapons were strange. Russ could only conclude that the alien's means of harvesting the crystals energy was wholly inadequate.

Deciding that if the enemy was going to present such an obvious target to him Russ lined up a run on the enemy frigate. He fired three micro missiles to tear open the shields before releasing a ten-second burst from his heavy cannons before the crystal cracked and exploded breaking the ship in half and causing a chain reaction of explosions on both of its severed halves.

X CMS Victory, Command Bridge X

Santize was panicking, his left flanking attempt had been stopped dead by only five fighters which had wiped out his bombers and destroyed one of his frigates. As he watched one of the said fighters attacked the cruiser CMS Hadenford's power crystal which took a devastating hit and ruptured destroying the vessel. Around him, his sensors officer and communications officer were shouting reports of losses and mayday calls.

With a growing sense of dread, Santize realized the enemy forces had technology he couldn't compete with unless he brought overwhelming firepower. "Order all remaining fighters into the center! All ships accelerate to max speed and close range with the enemy frigates! We have to overwhelm them!" Santize panicked before a voice spoke up from his personal comm.

"Admiral Santize, it appears you could use a hand." The deep voice of Lylat's most brilliant scientist Andross announced.

"Do you have anything to assist me Andross?" Santize nearly pleaded.

He heard Andross chuckle darkly "Why of course my fine Admiral. I've taken remote control of CXS Xerta and can provide you the opportunity to crush the enemy force. You need simply to cover the ship with your forces while it moves into range. I also recommend you have your ground transports follow close as their way to the planet is about to open."

Santize immediately ordered his ships as instructed while the Xerta accelerated forward toward the enemy forces.

X Cerinia Orbital Station X

Queen Meridia sat resolutely relaying information to the Guardian pilots from were she sat in the station's sensor suite. She had resolutely refused to evacuate until all the Cerinian's and humans did from both the station and the cruise ship. The station now only held herself and her daughter Krystal who stood by her in support while the human ship had evacuated half its occupants.

The battle outside had been going remarkably in their favor with the human fighters taking up most of the enemy force while the Guardians and frigates engaged what few enemy craft made it through the initial screen. There were limits to what the humans could do however and soon the human fighters were pushed back and now fought the enemy near and around their own corvettes. Now to make matters worse the entire enemy force was pushing toward them including their larger ships.

"Denim 3 and 4 lost, Denim 2 join Cobalt 1 and 3. Guardian six through nine, move to cover their sector. Guardian 3 pull out you've taken to much damage. Guardian 10 lost. Hold on every one civilian evacuation is fifty percent complete" the queen urged on as the enemy drew closer. So far, their losses had been four guardians, five human fighters and a single corvette. Painful losses to be sure but they had also destroyed four enemy corvettes, and a frigate as well as ninety enemy strike craft.

Queen Meridia heard a voice over the commlink "Cera this is Fenrir, I'm registering a power spike on an approaching frigate weight."

Meridia brought up her sensors and sure enough, at the head of the charging enemy forces, a unique looking ship was having a massive power spike. Switching to her outer cameras Meridia paled as she saw the ship's front split open and reveal a massive gun which glowed an ominous orange pointed right at the station "It's powering up an energy weapon!" she shouted just as the ship fired.

X Great Fox X

Jessica had quit speaking for the most part as more and more Cornerian losses mounted however at the sight of Santize's fleet all charging in she broke in again "Looks like the Admiral is moving in for the kill! ROB have you cracked the pirate's comms yet?"

ROB paused for a little bit before replying "AFFIRMATIVE ACCESSING ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS AND APPLYING TRANSLATIONS PROTOCOLS."

"Translation protocols?" Jessica asked confused.

"AFFIRMATIVE ENEMY FORCES USES TWO NON-LYLATIAN LANGUAGES. IT TOOK THIS UNIT FIVE MINUTES TO TRANSLATE." Rob reported which alarmed Jessica both at the two non-Lylatian languages and the long translation time. "ACCESSING THE COMMS NOW."

Jessica waited before a regal sounding female voice came over the comm "Denim 3 and 4 lost, Denim 2 join Cobalt 1 and 3. Guardian six through nine, move to cover their sector. Guardian 3 pull out you've taken to much damage. Guardian 10 lost. Hold on every one civilian evacuation is fifty percent complete!"

Jessica, already alarmed at the two-language comment immediately began questioning ROB "Wait civilians, why would civilians be part of a pirate base?"

ROB turned to her "AFTER ANALYSIS I HAVE DETERMINED THAT THE LIKELIHOOD OF THE ENEMY FORCE BEING PIRATES IS EXACTLY 2.34 PERCENT. THE PRESENCE OF HIGH-END TECHNOLOGY AND MIXED FIGHTER MODELS SUGGEST TWO UNKNOWN SPECIES. ADDENDUM LARGE VESSEL APPEARS TO ONLY BE ARRAYED WITH DEFENSIVE WEAPONRY. FACTORING THIS IN AND AFTER ANALYZING HOSTILE SHUTTLE PATTERNS THIS PLATFORM BELIEVES THE LARGE SHIP TO BE A CIVILIAN TRANSPORT OF UNKNOWN MAKE."

Jessica was in now near hysterics "Wait these people are aliens?! Why haven't you told Admiral Santize or James McCloud?"

ROB tilted his head "JAMES MCCOULD HAS BEEN NOTIFIED BUT IS STILL CONTRACTED BY THE CORNERIAN MILITARY TO ASSIST THEM AND SO CANNOT ABANDON THE CONTRACT UNTIL ORDERED. THIS PLATFORMS ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT ADMIRAL SANTIZE AND INFORM HIM OF NEW INTEL HAVE BEEN IGNORED."

Jessica was going to demand the robot try again when they noticed an ominous glow from the bridge's windows. Turning they were just in time to see the CXS Xerta's front open to reveal a massive cannon which fired an intense beam of energy.

Jessica, her cameraman, and the rest of Lylat looked on in horror as the beam swallowed an enemy corvette punched a hole through the large civilian ship, and finally detonated into the space station. They saw the ship that ROB had just finished explaining was a civilian transport seem to spark for a couple of seconds before a series of explosions consumed the ship. Nearby the space station fell out of its orbit and began slowly plummeting into the planet's atmosphere.

Jessica slowly sank to her knees "What have we done?"


	3. Chapter 3: A Meeting of Mercenaries

**Chapter 3: A Meeting of Mercenaries**

"We just lost the Solace!" one of the remaining human pilots shouted over the comm in shock as all the remaining defenders of Cerinia watched the civilian transport's reactor explode breaking the ship apart. Meanwhile, the Cera space station had a large hole blasted through it causing numerous secondary explosions and the entire station to begin a decaying orbit toward the surface.

Russ growled at the loss, not only had the Solace been only halfway done with evacuations but Cera station was the orbital command and control center run by the queen of the planet who was likely now dead. In addition, the beam of energy destroyed one of their corvettes or more specifically his contractor's corvette which meant he just lost his paycheck. Russ was tempted to abandon the fight and activate his slip space drive to escape, a decision that two of the remaining corvettes took as he saw them turn and open a slip space portal before entering and disappearing from the battle area. Russ shook his head before focusing on the readouts his sensors were displaying.

Examining his sensors Russ cursed as another large fleet began approaching the battle area from the same direction as the first. Unlike the first fleet which was charging toward their positions in a mishmash of forces with no formation this second fleet was holding back in a battle formation with two Cruisers and a smattering of corvettes surrounding what seemed to be a trio of cruisers that the enemy had turned into carriers judging by the streams of strike craft launching from the ships hangers. The other two battleships had split off from the center group and taken up position on either flank of the line with a smattering of frigate escorts. In front of all these formations was a line of corvettes and an occasional frigate that formed a defensive line that was swarming with fighters. Quickly coming to the inclusion that the charging fleet was enough to overrun their position Russ keyed his comm.

"This is Fenrir of Raven Squadron to King Dolis of Cerinia, the enemy has just destroyed both the Solace and Cera station. The enemy is advancing, and we cannot hold our orbital position. I'm taking over command of the orbital defenses and moving our remaining forces over Cerinia's orbital horizon to prepare long-range harassment fire." Russ relayed, after a period of silence King Dolis responded.

"…U-understood. Very well Fenrir does what you can I'll prepare or ground forces for enemy contact and move our remaining civilians to the shelters. Good luck." King Dolis said holding back the sorrow at the loss of his wife and daughter in the face of doing his duty for the people of his planet.

"Roger, same to you sir," Russ said before switching frequency to the orbital channel. "Attention all remaining orbital forces this is Fenrir. I'm taking over command, all remaining forces pull back over the north polar horizon and prepare for harassment operations." Russ relayed as he and the remaining human and Guardian fighters formed up and escorted the two remaining corvettes to the north. One of the corvettes captains relayed his craft was available for ammo replenishment and seeing that the enemy wasn't perusing them Russ gave the go-ahead for himself and other craft needing resupply to do so while the guardian fighters went planetside to resupply at a remote base.

X With the Cornerian Fleet X

"Sir enemy forces in retreat!" a jubilant sensors officer reported to Santiago who smirked as he watched the remaining enemy forces withdraw. Nodding his head Santiago ordered a general charge as his troop transports moved to disgorge their troops. His attention was grabbed however by another announcement from the sensors officer "Sir additional contacts approaching from our rear, IFF confirms them as the 1st Fleet!"

Santiago growled "Of course that damn Admiral Pepper would try to steal our glory! Tell the ground transports to land immediately and begin operations immediately. Communications after that put Admiral Pepper through and send my thanks to Dr. Andross for his assistance" Santiago ordered before resting in his chair. After a few minutes, the forward screen was replaced by the stoic form of Admiral Pepper.

The bulldog's commanding voice soon addressed Santiago "Acting Vice-Admiral Santiago just what do you think you are doing?" the bulldog demanded in a cold commanding tone that held whispers of the canine's inner rage.

Santiago huffed "I'm winning this battle sir and securing a planet for the Cornerian people from the hands of pirates."

Admiral Pepper growled "Really? It looks to me like you are engaging a small force consisting of two unknown species and invading their world. A fact that has been discovered by the entirety of Lylat thanks to the reporter aboard the Great Fox and intercepting enemy communications."

Santiago blinked a few times in silence before responding "Huh?"

Admiral Pepper's stoic countenance broke "Gods dammit swine get your head out of your ass and analyze the situation with whatever passes for your brain! The enemy is using technology far beyond our capability, has no craft that looks anything like what we have in Lylat, and exist outside known Lylat space on a garden world! They have the resources to never need to raid supplies and from what we can tell from their comms are speaking two very different languages!"

Santiago bristled at the bulldog's tone though inwardly acknowledged his points "Even if that were the case it's too late to just apologize now. We're so close to victory that we may as well finish the fight, secure the planet for Lylat while gaining a vassal the aliens for Lylat and seize their technology. We can still grab a glorious victory for our people!"

Pepper slammed his hands down on the arms of his command chair "Dammit don't you hear yourself Santiago? You are fighting and attacking a major civilian center, cease and desist dammit! We can still find a diplomatic solution to this mess!"

Santiago rose to his feet in anger "Have you forgotten the losses we have already taken? No, there can only be a victory for those that have perished for Corneria! For the Fallen!" Santiago shouted before ending the transmission and sitting back down in his chair as the bridge crew gave their own cheer.

"FOR THE FALLEN!"

X Great Fox, Command Bridge X

"ADMIRAL PEPPER SOLEMNLY REPORTS THAT SANTIAGO HAS REFUSED TO STAND DOWN AND IT ADVANCING TO BEGIN GROUND OPERATIONS" ROB reported to Jessica and her camera crew from his station by the sensors.

"But why is he continuing the advance?" Jessica asked in confusion as the group watched in both sadness and horror as the 3rd Fleet advanced toward the planet.

ROB turned before answering her "GENERAL PEPPER RELAYED THAT SANTIAGO BELIEVES THAT THE LOSSES ALREADY SUFFERED MAKES THE THOUGHT OF RETREATING NOW… UNAPPEALING. HE HAS DECIDED TO GO AHEAD WITH THE INVASION AND VASSILIZATION OF THE PLANET AND ITS PEOPLE FOR CORNERIA."

Jessica shook her head somewhat understanding the Vice-Admiral's point but heavily disagreeing with it. Deciding she needed to address the audience Jessica turned back toward the camera "Well viewers you've heard the situation and while I personally disagree with the actions being taken it's your right to decide what you think about the events happening outside of this window." Jessica turned to the window and saw the large transport crafts disgorging large amounts of transports heading for the surface. "As you can now see the ground forces heading for the surface. I'll turn it over to Jeffery O'Hare our embedded reporter with the 27th Cornerian Infantry Regiment. Jeff, can you hear me?"

X Cornerian Landing Ship T-1138 X

Jeffery O'Hare was not enjoying himself. He had been crammed into a barracks area inside the Transport ships for two days with some very rambunctious infantrymen. Now he was strapped to a chair in a small transport shuttle burning through the atmosphere with a group of STILL rambunctious marines howling at the ceiling.

"Okay, you sissies" the group's captain announced "Our navy boys took a beating plowing a way through to the planet for us so its time to make the aliens pay the piper. We're gonna land, set up a FOB, and then move to the enemy settlement five clicks to our north. Orbital imaging shows the area is jungle until the city outskirts which is a mix of small stone and wood homes mixed with rock pyramid-like structures with a lot of open ground. So, expect harassment in the jungle before we reach the settlement and then long open fields of fire. Our objective is the big fuck-off castle in the center that we tracked the transports arriving at, once that's secured the enemy will likely surrender. So, lock and load war dogs we got a war to win!" the captain shouted to the excited roar of approval of his soldiers. After another minute the transport touched down and the ramp opened allowing the thirty infantry out and into a chaotic mix of activity.

Jeff keyed his camera and filmed as hundreds of transports kicked up large clouds of sand as they landed their infantry, supplies, or equipment on a beautiful stretch of beach while the infantry moved about toward the jungle to form a perimeter while others prepared fortifications for a FOB. To Jeff's right, a transport dropped off one of the armies twenty tanks while another large armored carrier disgorged a squad of four anti-air vehicles. Hearing Jessica's voice turns the new broadcast over to him Jeff began to speak into the microphone on his headset. "I hear you, Jessica! The 26th 27th and 28th Infantry Regiments of Santiago's ground forces and myself have landed five clicks away from the enemy city and as you can see the soldiers here are wasting no time in setting up their positions."

"Hey reporter!" a voice shouted from a group of advancing soldiers "Let's go keep up or get left behind!"

Jeff quickly began running toward the soldiers "Jessica it looks like we're heading out, I'll get back to you when I can."

X Orbit over Cornerian, CERA Station X

Krystal groaned as she groggily stood up from were, she had been thrown from where a secondary explosion caused by the large beam of energy hitting the station. Gathering her wits, she glanced around and saw that the communications room was in a state of total disrepair with panels be collapsed beams hanging from the ceiling and small fires throughout the room.

She thanked the gods that their area was isolated from the area the beam had punctured and thus still had breathable air. Looking down she saw her mother also rising slowly to her feet clutching a wound at her side likely caused when the comm station exploded. Her mother had thrown up a hasty psychic barrier but some of the debris still got through.

Krystal bent over and picked up her staff before helping her mother to her feet. "Come on mother we need to get to the emergency shuttle." Krystal relayed to which her mother nodded before the two began to carefully make their way through the dark and smoking hallways.

After stumbling through the dark and debris filled corridor the two managed to find the emergency transport waiting in a hanger through to Krystal's dismay it had taken some damage from falling scaffolding which removed a few plates of outer hall. Thankfully they could still take off as the interior layers would keep their structural integrity though they couldn't get back to Cerinia. As Krystal powered up the ship after laying her mother in the copilot's seat Krystal glanced over the sensors and saw that though the enemy was closing quickly they still had some space forces left she could randevu with. Her course of action set Krystal gunned the engines and left the hanger and toward her allies.

XXXXXXX

Russ sighed as he viewed the tactical readout his ship was supplying him with a wary eye. It had been a couple of hours since the Cornerians had begun landing troops on the surface of Cerinia and fifty minutes since the out perimeter of cities defenses had reported contact. From what reports Dolis had sent the Guardians were holding the enemy back but were getting pushed back slowly despite suffering only a handful of casualties. The enemy simply had them outnumbers and outgunned in range and tanks with Cerinia not even having any armor at all. Thankfully some of the cruise ships security personnel that had been evacuated had joined the defense with their hard-light rifles and were pinning the enemy down with long-range sniper fire.

As for himself and the remaining orbital forces, all the remaining fighters had managed to rearm and had attempted to harass the enemy to great effect by running in to attack from max range before retreating before the enemy could react. Since the first enemy fleet had taken up a defensive area around the transport ships, they had proved to be very reluctant to pursue the human corvettes that haggard them. Still the humans and Cerinian's had not gone unscathed as two more human fighters and four guardian fighters were lost. Russ's forces were not down to the two corvettes, himself and four other Ravens, three other human fighters, and four guardian fighters. Eventually, the enemy had wised up and dispatched fighters to attack them from multiple directions stretching them thin to cover their flanks. It now was common that one of the better trained Raven's would have to cover an entire flank by themselves. Now however they had an additional problem in that the second fleet had moved closer to the area threatening to send its three hundred fighters and bombers to engage his smaller force if he attempted to bring his corvettes to again harass the enemy fleet.

Russ was brought out of his analysis of the battlefield by an emergency transmission on their tactical frequency "This is Guardian Krystal, I was aboard CERA station when it was hit but survived the blast. Queen Meridian and I managed to board an escape shuttle and escape the station, but the Queen is injured. In addition, the shuttle has lost structural integrity from the blast and we can't reenter orbit. Requesting escort to the friendly vessel for medical."

Russ looked at his tactical view and saw only himself and Raven 4 in a position to escort her without compromising his forces perimeter. "Understood Guardian, Raven 4 and Fenrir will move to escort stay current heading." Russ relayed before throttling his Dire-Wolf forward along with Raven 4's Xiphos interceptor toward the slow-moving target that was the escape shuttle.

XXXXX

Meanwhile with the Cornerian Fleet Krystal's distress message had been picked up by ROB and Jessica and then relayed to Admiral Pepper. The bulldog knew that capturing the queen of the planet would go a long way in securing the surrender of the planet's defenders and ending this whole debacle. So nodding his head in the decision he keyed his communications station "Star Fox and Wardog squadrons an enemy shuttle has left the damaged station. It is carrying an enemy VIP that we need to capture them ALIVE so disable the ship's engines and prevent the enemy from securing it." He ordered and quickly received acknowledgments from James McCloud and David Lupis who commanded Wardog squadron.

James McCloud released a steady breath as he and his two wingmen Pigma and Peppy flew toward their new objective. Soon they were joined by the fifteen fighters of Wardog squadron led by David Lupis. James knew Lupis, he came from a military family and was a remarkable pilot to a point that James had wanted to recruit him into Star Fox when his time with the military was done. Recently David had entered an arranged marriage with a girl from another military family that from what he heard was as beautiful as she was totally against the marriage the answer to both being EXTREMELY.

"David good of you to join us!" Peppy said over the comm.

"Ha good to hear your voice, you old hare! James, Pigma good seeing you both too." The confident voice of David replied with a laugh. "So, I hear we got some royal pain in the ass to capture."

"That's right" James responded "The vessel will reach the enemy if ten minutes unless we stop them. My scanners are picking up two enemy aircraft approaching the shuttle."

"Only two? Easy kills!" Pigma laughed happily.

"Don't let your guard down Pigma those two bandits are from that squadron that's been kicking our friendlies asses lately" James warned.

"So how do you want to do this?" David asked.

"My squad takes one and yours takes the other" James ordered with a chuckle

"Ha sounds like a plan! Dibs on the leader!" the wolf replied.

Pigma gave a disgruntled huff "You just want to impress that young fiancée of yours. What is she… ten years younger than you?"

"Fifteen and I really want to get back, her grandfather's arranged the wedding next month to celebrate our victory so we need to wrap this up today if possible." David relayed before looking at his radar. Heads up we are approaching the target. Okay, Wardog lets focus on the leader!" David ordered as they sped toward the pair of escort fighters which broke apart to engage the two squadrons.

XXXXX

Jessica Greymane was doing her best to keep the audience interested during the breaks between when Jeff could transmit footage from the ground. The battles in space had died down significantly with the only newsworthy development being the attempted capture of the planets queen which was currently underway. "ROB can you give us the play-by-play of the battle? We can't make out any details from here" she asked the robot who nodded.

"ACKNOWLEDGED. STAR FOX HAS JUST ENGAGED HOSTILE 2 WHILE WARDOG HAS ENGAGED HOSTILE 1. HOSTILE 1 HAS FIRED THREE MISSILES… WARDOG 3,5, AND NINE LOST. JAMES MCCLOUD AND PEPPY HARE HAVE PINCERED HOSTILE 2… ENEMY ESCAPED BY PULLING UP AND LEFT, PIGMA DENGAR HAS PICKED UP TRAIL AND IS ATTEMPTING TO SHOOTDOWN HOSTILE 2. ATTEMPT FAILED ENEMY BANKED LEFT AND ENGAGED PEPPY HARE… PEPPY DODGED. WARDOG HAS SPLIT INTO PAIRS AND HAS ATTEMPTED TO BOX IN HOSTILE ONE… ATTEMPT FAILED HOSTILE ONE ROLLED LEFT AND HAS FIRED A PROJECTILE WEAPON, WARDOG 2 AND 4 LOST. ENEMY SHUTTLE IS 10 MINUTES FROM ESCAPING. UPDATE WARDOG 10 LOST DUE TO MISSILE FROM HOSTILE 1… MY APOLOGIES ROB IS UNABLE TO UPDATE CLIENT ON BATTLE DO TO RAPID CHANGES IN STATUS AND INABILITY TO ARTICULATE EVENTS AT A SATISFACTORY RATE." Rob stated before keying the comm station "PROVIDING ACCESS TO SQUADRON COMMS TO ALLOW FOR ACCOMPLISHMENT OF CLIENT REQUEST."

Jessica and the rest of Lylat waited with bated breath as ROB adjusted the comm station eager to hear the progress of two famous squadrons. After a couple of seconds, ROB finished adjusting the station and the voices of the pilots flooded the area.

"STAR FOX hurry up and waist that guy we need some help over here!" Captain David Lupin's voice came through with a hint of panic.

"We're doing our best Wardog 1 just give us a couple more minutes!" James replied as he wheeled around and picked up the bandit on his tail. "Peppy Pigma saturation fire ten degrees to my port side on three. One, two, THREE!" James announced as he threw the stick hard right making his Arwing bank right followed by the bandit. Pigma and Peppy let loose with their lasers poring fire behind James craft and hitting the trailing bandit. The first couple of shots seem to be deflected or absorbed by the ships armored platting before the sheer amount of fire finally penetrated and ripped apart the enemy, reducing it to a ball of fire.

Onboard the Great Fox Jessica and her cameraman let a cheer as one of the most dangerous enemies were destroyed. Suddenly the comm station rang out "Fenrir, Raven 4 is down! What's your status?"

ROB spoke up "ENEMY COMMS NOW INCLUDED FOR CLIENT SATISFACTION."

"Almost done here, just finished hacking into the enemies comm. Sounds like they've cracked the Cerinian's comm encryption. All human forces switch to encryption channel Epsilon-Beta two-three-zero" a deeper voice announced that was slightly garbled.

James McCloud heard the transmission as well and cursed but internally filed the name of the second species as humans as he and his squadron wheeled around to Wardog's last position. "S-star Fox this is Wardog 1, c-come in." David's voice came over the comm.

"David we took out our bandit and are on our way just have your squad hold out a little longer" Fox announced before he was cut off.

"James, m-my whole squad is down. D-don't fight him, h-he's too s-strong." David's voice came back in near hysterics.

"David we're coming just hang on!" Peppy said as the group passed the floating wreckage of Wardog squadron having completely forgotten the escaping shuttle which quickly joined their remaining ships.

"I-I can't shake this guy, he's unreal." David's voice had more and more fear and despair with each sentence. James and his team put all power to their thrusters trying to get there before what they dreaded happening came to be.

"M-my squadron, he wiped out half in the first minute… the last of us were picked apart one by one." James could see two dots at the edges of his sensors one hostile behind a lone friendly that was desperately trying to shake his pursuer to no avail.

"H-he's in a perfect firing angle, why isn't he firing?" David whispered in fright. "Scared…I-I'm scared."

James could see them now David had ceased all evasive action knowing it was futile while the enemy craft mysteriously followed close behind not firing. "DAVID WE'RE HERE! BANK LEFT AND WE'LL" James began only to be interrupted by a whisper from David over the comm.

"He's a demon"

The enemy finally fired a streak of projectiles streaking forth and ripping through David's wing and fuselage which began to spin and leak flames.

"JAMES! STARFOX! ANYONE HELP ME!" David's terrified voice screamed before another burst from the enemy slammed into his craft causing it to explode and leaving the enemy to soar through the debris cloud.

Every Lylatian who had heard the transmission stopped and felt a cold pit form in their stomach even as ROB's voice announced what they all already knew "WARDOG 1 LOST." A silence settled over the comms before another voice began to speak.

"This is Fenrir enemy squadron eliminated, I'll deal with the other group now… well, well, well. Star Fox was it? I should congratulate you for managing to take down a Raven" the voice of the enemy announced.

James growled, "We'll get you for that monster!" The enemy only laughed through the comm.

"That's rich coming from a side that's invading a peaceful planet, attacked a civilian mining outpost, and then destroyed a civilian transport" Fenrir announced over the comm. "Besides he was a soldier is it really that surprising for him to die on the battlefield?"

James growled as Star Fox spread out to attack from multiple angles while Fenrir seemed content to fly directly toward them. "He had stopped fighting! He was sitting there in front of you with no resistance! You could have let him go and he would have retreated!" James shouted as the two groups merged and Fenrir dodged their enveloping fire by rolling up before performing a downward split-s as soon as he passed them and getting onto James tail.

Fenrir gave a dismissive scoff "Then he was an idiot as well. This is war, there is no place for weakness hesitation or compassion. It's become clear to me after watching your people that you are unused to war so here is a piece of advice. In war, there are two types of people those that are dead and those that kill to survive. So, Star Fox lets see which of the two you are!" With that Fenrir opened up with his GAT cannon that James barely managed to dodge by pulling up and banking right before Peppy managed to throw Fenrir off his tail by firing at the human craft for below.

Fenrir wheeled around and banked into Peppy sharply forcing him to overshoot before Fenrir reversed the direction of his turn and came in on Peppy's tail. Fenrir switched his selected weapon with a flick of a switch on the flight stick before firing a glancing shot at Peppy's rapidly accelerating fighter.

James watched in horror as a pair of green beams of light streaked out from Either side of Fenrir's fuselage near the cockpit and lanced threw space before piercing threw Peppy's wing and rear fuselage causing a small explosion as Peppy lost his left G-diffuser, wing, and left laser cannon.

"Ah, I'm hit!" Peppy screamed.

"Peppy get out of here retreat!" James ordered as he fired at Fenrir forcing the human to bank away from Peppy.

"Sorry James!" Peppy apologized as his heavily damaged ship banked away from the battle and toward the Great Fox.

James and Pigma split up to try a pincer maneuver but suddenly James saw a missile leave the enemy craft coming straight at him quickly banking right and firewalling the throttle James attempted to evade. "Pigma he's fired a missile at me abort the attack!" he warned as the missile closed.

"Fuck that! This guy my paycheck!" Pigma shouted as he continued to close with the bandit and fired at his underbelly.

James had his own problem to deal with and focused on dodging the missile rapidly closing in on his left. James waited for the missile to close before he through the stick back and applied as much rudder as he could yanking the craft in a drastic change in direction that the missile couldn't keep up with allowing James to sail over the missile which continued for another couple hundred feet before detonating after its warhead could no longer find a target.

Looking back toward the bandit James eyes widened as he saw then enemy cut its main engines before using its thrusters to do an impossible flip backward mixed with a roll reducing Pigma's shots to harmlessly pass inches away from its fuselage and canopy but more importantly locking Pigma in its sights as he sailed past.

"Pigma!" James shouted a warning to his remaining wingman.

"OH SHI-" Pigma's shout was cut off as the same beam weapons that hit Peppy now streaked forth and bisected Pigma's Arwing from nose to engine cutting it clean in half and it's pilot along with it.

As the two halves of Pigma's Arwing exploded Fenrir reignited his main engines and addressed the single remaining enemy "Greed is the highest mortality rate amongst mercenaries. So little kit you're all alone now, still want to try your luck?"

James just growled and shot toward the enemy firing his weapons. James didn't try to maneuver behind the enemy or lead the fighter instead he firewalled his throttle a second time in a desperate attempt to ram the human fighter. This seemed to surprise the human as his shields took enough hits to drop and soon a laser shot from James hit just to the right of the canopy leaving a burn mark but no real damage thanks to his fuselage's reinforced heat resistant plates.

Russ knew that he could afford to slack off now and submerged himself into a familiar state of being that had saved his life numerous times during the wars he had fought in. Time seemed to slow outside, his eyesight sharpened, the incoming lasers and the paths they would take became bare to his eyes, and the intentions of the enemy were laid before him like an open book. The intense G-forces asserted on his body felt like nothing as every thruster and the main engines themselves worked together to fire off and send his aircraft twenty feet forward before throwing all energy he had into a flat spin that brought his nose around to point at the Arwing that now occupied the space he had just vacated.

From James's perspective, the aircraft seemed to become enshrouded in green energy that his sharp eyes saw was from numerous thrusters located in various points on the aircraft. The human ship moved forward ethereally fast to the point of leaving a blurry outline along its path before it spun around fluidly like someone skating on ice and pointed its nose straight at James. James watched as two objects that James had assumed were G-diffusers like his own instead showed themselves to be cannons that fired a something at such speeds that James only saw a flash of blue before two objects plowed through his rear fuselage before exploding beneath the Arwing ripping off its wings.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" James screamed in panic and in pain as his console circuits exploded sending some shrapnel into his hands and arks of electricity directly into his eyes. Now nearly blind and in an aircraft, with no engine's or wings, James could only fight the pain as his Arwing spun out into space.

Russ watched the damaged fighter spin off into space and debated finishing it off to end the pilots suffering rather than letting the poor sod freeze to death or suffocate out in space before noting the odd-looking frigate ship amongst the enemy fleet change course to intercept the Cornerian fighter.

Shrugging but internally glad that the skilled pilot would make it Russ turned back to his sides lines before keying his comm back to the secured frequency "Fenrir here enemy squadron down. What is the status of our forces?"

His question was soon answered by Raven 2 "This is Cyclops, lifeboat secured. Remaining space forces consolidating on our position. Ground forces report heavy fighting and are being forced back to their last defensive lines. The enemy has brought in armored support, they are begging for air support."

Russ grimaced knowing he can't spare the aircraft at this point before an alarm on his sensors alerted him to an incoming long-range communication on all human frequencies. "This is Rear Admiral Steel of the Earth Sphere Alliance's 10th Patrol Fleet, we are five minutes away from the planet known as Cerinia. By the direct order of the Emperor, we are here to support our allies and secure our citizens. Any human forces in the area of Cerinia respond at once."

Russ gave a smirk in triumph before keying his comm "Rear Admiral Steel with is Fenrir a mercenary of Raven's Loft, I've taken temporary command of the remaining space forces over Cerinia. The situation is dire, enemy forces have smashed our previous lines and engaged ground forces who are in desperate need of reinforcements. I'm transmitting all relevant data to your ship. Recommend having your AI sort through and compile events for you to view. Also, be advised that we have a VIP in one of our remaining corvettes in need of medical. In addition, allied Cerinian communications have been cracked by the hostile forces."

Steel paused for a second before replying "Understood Fenrir. I'm placing all remaining human forces under my command and as an incentive to you, mercenaries am offering extensive combat bonuses for your efforts and continued prowess. We will be arriving shortly."

Fenrir joined all the humans as they let out a collective cheer some in joy at the reinforcement and some in the promise of good pay, some for both. Russ was just glad that this FUBAR mission was almost over… the money helped too.

 **AAAANNNDDDDD Done! Well this was a hefty chapter and like what was stated at the end the next chapter will be wrapping up this battle and we can get to the heart of the story. So a quick note I'm going to start next chapter with a quick Q &A so if you guys and gals have any questions to ask me about this fic go ahead and leave a review or pm and if its something I can reply with without spoilers I'll include it in the Q&A next chapter.**

 **Anyway, till next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Deliverance

**Chapter 4: Deliverance**

The mood aboard the Great Fox was dire not only had the famous James McCloud been injured but the entirety of Star Fox had been taken out by a single fighter along with one of the CDF's best fighter squadrons. Jessica knew that she should say something to help alleviate the people at home in Lylat but she couldn't find the words to say to them. The Great Fox had pulled out of the battle and managed to retrieve both James and Peppy. Peppy was uninjured but was now piloting the Great Fox while ROB treated James McCloud's injuries.

Aboard his flagship, Admiral Pepper seemed confident to those with him on the bridge as he gave out orders but internally he knew that even if they won the day here and took Cerinia the people at home would consider the battle a major embarrassment and loss with the number of casualties they had suffered. As he issued orders for his fighters and bombers to engage the remaining enemy fleet, he was interrupted by his sensors officer. "Admiral, I'm picking up some strange energy readings from near the enemy fleet!"

"On screen!" Pepper shouted before the view screen in front of him changed from Cerinia to the small human fleet nearby. A little away from the small group of ships a large purple rift appeared before to all the crew's horror disgorging a much bigger fleet of unknown vessels.

Suddenly a male voice broke over their comms "Attention all vessels of Humanity, Cerinia, and Corneria. This is Rear-Admiral Steel of the Earth Sphere Alliance's 10th Patrol Fleet. We have come to secure our people from the brutal and unprovoked attack by the Cornerian military. To our Cerinian Allies know that we humbled by your generosity and courage to defend our people and now will do the same. To the members of the Cornerian military that have propagated this conflict know that your reckoning has come. All ships forward, engage the Cornerian forces!"

Pepper wasted no time in responding "Helm bring us about to engage the new contacts! Sensors enemy numbers and classifications!"

The sensors officer responded with growing panic "Sir enemy force consists of a dreadnaught, three battleships, two heavy cruisers, twenty cruisers, sixteen frigates, and over two hundred strike craft!"

Peppy cursed internally this force while not having the number of battleships as the combined forces of his and the 3rd's still blue their cruiser numbers out of the water and the existence of a dreadnaught was deeply concerning, especially if this was indeed merrily a patrol fleet. "Order all forces to form a defensive line and concentrate fire on the cruisers we have to lower their number. Tell our frigate packs to group up and engage single targets with combined fire. Order the 3rd to pull back their transport ships and prepare for an immediate retreat!" Pepper ordered knowing that this was a battle they couldn't win.

As his comms officer was carrying out his orders his sensors officer spoke up again "Sir power spike from enemy vessels… INCOMING!" the sensors officer warned realizing the danger but too late to do anything about it.

"Evasive maneuvers" Pepper shouted as he saw the approaching ships flashed revealing their entire hull to be incasing a large projectile gun that sent truly massive round toward the 3rd and 1st fleets that looked to be a blistering fast blue streak "Brace for impact!"

As the blue streak approached Pepper saw the helmsman had thrown the battleship hard starboard at maximum thrust not enough to fully avoid the projectile but enough to only take a glancing hit. The projectile scrapped the port side taking off a good thirty feet of their port bow before continuing below the ship and exploding with such force that it pushed the mighty battleship upward and perforated their hull with shrapnel.

In the bridge and throughout the ship sirens blared before those on the bridge were silenced by the sensors officer. "Damage report" Pepper demanded even as he surveyed the hull from the bridge viewscreen.

"Sir numerous hull breaches on multiple decks, emergency doors closed. Power crystal undamaged, but short-range laser batteries A and C report fifty percent destroyed, multiple casualties" the ship systems officer reported.

"What about our fleet," Pepper asked looking out and seeing debris clouds were once friendly ships were.

His sensors officer responded, "Sir battleships Warpaw and Stalwart have been broken in half, in addition, we've lost six cruisers but no frigates." The news was defiantly bleak the enemies opening salvo had taken out two of his fleets four battleships and eighty percent of their cruiser complement.

Pepper leaped into action "Order all ships to space apart and prepare for evasive maneuvers! Order our bomber squadrons to engage the enemy fleet with our fighters covering them!" Pepper watched as his orders were carried out and the remaining ships spread out while the fighters and bomber streaked forth toward the enemy fleet.

Switching his gaze to the enemy fleet Pepper was relieved that they seemed to be held at a distance likely recharging that powerful projectile weapon. However, he did notice some odd behavior, a large part of the enemy's cruisers were grouping up into groups of three or four along with a couple of frigates.

"What are they…" Pepper wondered before multiple familiar purple vortexes appeared in front of these groups before they passed through and appeared shortly afterward amid both his fleet and the 3rd. As soon as the ships appeared, they began to fire at the Lylatian ships at knife fight range with broadside plasma cannons and missiles. Realizing that the enemy was taking advantage of the isolated Lylatian ships to outnumber and overwhelm the smaller frigates Pepper began issuing orders. "Helm bring us over to engage the nearest enemy group and engage at knife-fight range. Order our frigates to group up and engage the enemy and recall our strike craft immediately!"

X Corneria 3rd Fleet X

From his own flagship, Santize panicked as the enemy cruisers ripped havoc and chaos amongst his forces. Like the 1st Fleet, the 3rd Fleet had suffered heavily from the enemies opening salvo. Out of his four battleships, two had been instantly gutted before exploding in bright balls of superheated plasma. Amongst his remaining cruisers, only one had survived with extensive damage while the frigates got off lightly with only two being taken out. He could see that the 1st fleet had also taken heavy losses with two battleships destroyed and six cruisers lost to the enemies opening salvo and now were also besieged like them.

"Sir orders?" one of the bridges officers pleaded. Santize remained transfixed to the spectacle outside unable to hear or react to the repeated pleas for leadership of his command staff. "H-how could this have happened?" Unbeknownst to all those involved Andross was watching the unfolding drama back in Lylat from his transport craft thanks to the sensors from the CXS Xerta that gave him a real-time picture of the battle. The ape grinned in amusement before issuing a command on his console activating a collection of surprises, he left on various planets around the Lylat system and triggering a remote countdown aboard the Xerta. Andross laughed even as his transport stealthily entered the orbit of a toxic green planet called Venom.

Meanwhile, aboard the frigate, CMS Despot Captain Rachel Halsey was supervising the situation with calm but alarm. Her frigate pack had not been damaged thanks to their position away from the rest of the 3rd Fleet but now a pair of enemy cruisers was closing on the troop carrier ships and all the other frigate packs were engaged with the enemy leaving the transports vulnerable.

Deciding she needed to act Halsey reacted quickly with a fire in her eyes "Dammit, order the transport ships to fall back behind us! Relay to CMS Opportunity, Resilience, and Scarmarrow to assume formation diamond and flow us. Helm, bring us to a new course of 52 degrees starboard and 37 degrees half speed!" Rachel ordered thinking the enemy likely was trying to contest their transports and disrupt their orbital supremacy over the ground battle. Believing this Halsey knew she couldn't really stop the cruisers from doing so and so decided to abandon the orbital position in favor of protecting the troop carriers themselves knowing they were the only craft capable of carrying their ground forces in case they needed to retreat.

"Captain only two transports are listening to the order! The others refuse to move without Santize's orders!" the comms officer relayed causing Rachel to curse even as the enemy cruisers made short work of the four ships that refused to move opening up with missiles and plasma cannons. Like she predicted one cruiser then held position as the other moved toward the fleeing pair of transports that made for her frigate pack at full speed.

"Helm adjust our course to intercept the enemy cruiser. Communication relay my instructions to the other frigates. Prepare for envelopment tactic Alpha-Epsilon!" Halsey ordered as her four ships prepared to take on an enemy cruiser. As the two forces closed Halsey noticed the other cruiser that had stayed back seemed to be launching a series of small metal objects to the planet below. Rachel was curious about the objects but had to focus on the enemy cruiser which now was heading toward her frigate pack. "Gunnery prepare to focus fire on the enemies weapon systems starting with those plasma cannons. Helm keep our ship pointed at the enemy don't let them get a bead on our energy crystal!" Halsey gave her last orders before the battle and ready herself for the fight coming straight at her.

X Cerinia Orbit X

Captain Jacob McDowell of the Militia was enjoying yet another reentry inside his cockpit watching the ground rapidly approaching through the camera feeds displayed inside the cockpits forward walls. Despite the majority of the human forces here being from the Earth Sphere Alliance the fact that the battle was happening just outside of human space meant that the Militia was the closest military organization to the area and so they had sent a couple of their own ships to participate. One of which the MMS Red Eye was a frigate and troop carrier that Jacob had been launched from just a couple seconds ago.

Jacob was a veteran pilot of the Militia with the callsign 'Cerberus'. As a veteran of the war between the Militia and the IMC, Jacob had been on many such orbital insertions and his immediate mission was like others he had been on with the sole exception of the enemy being aliens.

"Alright, pilots listen up! Your mission is to clear the landing zone of hostile anti-air in prep for infantry insertion. After that's complete you are cleared to engage and eliminate all hostile forces in the AO. Remember pilots' blue foxes with staffs are friendly along with any humans you see. Cerberus we're inserting you in a more forward position than the others near a friendly position under threat of being overrun. Hostile armor in the immediate area."

Jacob keyed his comms "10-4 command Cerberus will save their bacon" he acknowledged.

As the approached the ground and were seconds away from impact Command gave the callout on all channels that were made famous during the frontier wars. "All forces engaging Titanfall!"

X Cerinia Capitol, Serenity Plaza X

Ember ducked down behind her cover again as more laser fire streaked overhead. The Cerinian vixen was an oddity amongst her people with fur that was a pale blue that was near white her tribal markings being a dark blue. Currently however her pale fur was covered with soot and scratch marks that bled lightly painting some areas of her fur with a pink hue. Her emerald green eyes peeked wearily over the rubble she was using as cover at the approaching Lylatian forces nearing her position. Because of her odd fur color, Ember had been somewhat ostracized during her younger years and so seeking acceptance that she couldn't get in the regular workforce Ember had joined the Guardians at the young age of twelve. She had passed numerous tests and only a year ago had graduated from apprenticeship to full-fledge Guardian at age 16.

She had been in the middle of basic piloting training when the order came from the king for all Guardians to be put on full alert. She had been assigned to the cities guard and had been fighting the Lylatian invaders since they hit the cities outer perimeter. She and the many other Guardians had represented themselves well but were slowly pushed back into the city's interior by the enemy's range and numbers. Thankfully the civilians of the city had been evacuated to other settlements well before the assault. At first, they had done well to avoid casualties using their nimble athletics and knowledge of the terrane to quickly outflank and ambush the enemy before retreating, however, the enemies heavy vehicles had arrived and in conjunction with heavier weapons from the infantry, the Guardians started taking heavy losses. They had received some help when a few of the humans they had rescued joined their ranks with strong long-range weapons, but they too could only do so much when they encountered overwhelming enemy fire. It didn't help matters that they found that their energy staffs didn't work against the armor's hull and so they had requested air support, but their king had reported that the enemy anti-air presence was strong enough that what few fighters they still had in space couldn't get close enough to help.

To that end, Ember and ten other Guardians had attempted to sneak behind the enemy's lines to destroy several anti-air positions. Unfortunately, they had been found out near the target and cut off from retreat before being pinned down by three squads of enemy infantry and two armored vehicles that the enemy had been calling APC's.

They had been cornered in the remains of Serenity Plaza which used to be a beautiful park with various stone fountains and statues along with gardens filled with songbirds. Now the area was a pockmarked field with trees either burnt to a crisp or fallen over, statues destroyed or with large pieces melted off, and fountains blown apart and reduced to dry rubble one of which Ember was crouched behind. Her group had suffered five casualties before Ember volunteered to stay behind and distract the enemy while the others mad a brake out. Now she was alone behind enemy lines and about to be overrun after fighting for ten minutes by herself. Her allies had said they would try and send help, but she knew that there was no way for help to reach her as far back as she was.

Sighing in resignation but determined to make the Lylatian soldiers pay for their crimes against her people and the attack on their city Ember steeled herself for death and planned to go down fighting. However, as the enemy squad approached a sound reached their ears that started off sounding like any other explosion in the distance but grew to a loud roar directly above them. Everyone combatants' eyes gazed upward only to widen in shock at what looked to be a meteor wrapped in a ball of flame streaking down toward the square. Ember ideally noted as she saw her rapidly approaching death that there were other streaks of fire heading toward the ground in other locations around the city. Suddenly just before it impacted the ground the fire retreated to reveal not a meteor but some giant metal figure. Ember only had a second to marvel at the sight before she realized the figure was going to impact next to her position. Ember ducked her head down knowing that this was where her life ended and giving one last prayer to her few friends and mentors she prepared herself for the impact hoping it would at least be quick.

BOOOOMMMM!

Ember heard the impact just behind her position and was surprised that other than a brief concussive force that threw her dark blue hair back there was no fiery explosion. Instead, she was greeted by a mechanically female voice speaking in human speech.

"Friendly confirmed, hostiles closing in, weapons hot." Ember opened her eyes and found herself staring at a large metal figure standing at around twenty feet tall and bristling with weapons. Its single red eye moving rapidly around the area before centering on the shocked Lylatian forces. On the front was a painted black canine with three heads and snarling teeth with a fiery backdrop behind it.

Inside the Vanguard Pathfinder class, titan designated BP-7317, Militia pilot Jacob McDowell Surveyed the immediate area spotting the thee enemy infantry squads and two APC's nearing the friendlies position. "Alright Cera, let's get to work!" Jacob shouted before reaching around the titans back to retrieve the XO20A10 Chaingun from its mount before swinging it around and opening fire at the enemy squad only fifty yards away.

The Lylatians had no chance to react before a stream of thirty-millimeter arc rounds ripped through their bodies turning them into chunks and ripping apart the concrete they had been standing on while the smell of blood mixed with the smell of ozone created by the electric rounds. Jacob saw the other two squads a little further away shout in alarm before scrambling to cover white the APC's turned their turrets and opened fire with some type of rapid-fire laser. While the first ten shots hit his hull and did little to no damage to his shields Jacob took no chances and activated the headlight shield installed in his titans' right hand. Soon the lasers started bouncing off a blue luminescent shield that protected the entire front side of his Titan and the nearby vixen while Cera crouched down with 'her' right hand outstretched. Glancing down at the friendly Jacob knew that while he could engage the enemy here and eliminate them the vixen crouched ten feet away may get caught in the crossfire, so Jacob decided to take a risk and opened his cockpit hatch.

Ember had to put her arms over her head as large metal casing began falling from the large figures gun. By the sounds coming from the Lylatian's the rounds were very effective and judging by the blue electricity coming from the barrel of the gun were likely the reason her fur was starting to stand on end. Soon incoming fire started to pour in from the APC's only for the few shots that hit to splashed against some type of energy field around the titan's hull before the rest were intercepted by a large blue shield that appeared when the figure through its hand forward. Suddenly the torso of the figure opened up to reveal an armored individual sitting in a chair it red visor on its helmet staring right at her.

"Hey, lass sorry for dropping in but I need you to get in bout' now." The figure stated in Cerinian much to her shock.

"W-what? Who are you?" Ember asked not knowing who or what this individual was.

The figure tilted his head "Is this translator not working? Dam, ME HUMAN YOU GET IN!" The figure shouted slowly as if he was talking to a child.

Ember shook her head refocusing on her surrounding and realized that this apparent human and his giant suit of armor were likely her best bet out of her current situation. Standing up on her paws she quickly sprinted forward before jumping into the cockpit only for the figure to catch her and pull her down into his lap. On a completely unrelated side note Ember now had distinct proof that this figure was male based on what she felt from her new position.

As soon as she had sat down Jacob closed the hatch and glanced back at the enemy forces before priming the left shoulder weapon on his titan. The shoulder-mounted missile launcher quickly opened before locking onto the two enemies APC's and firing two micro-missiles that steaked above the hard light shield before arching down and punching threw the APC's armor before their warheads detonated and blowing the armored vehicles apart like a pair of popped balloons. With the reduced incoming fire, Jacob disengaged the hard-light shield and sent the mech into a sprint ignoring the enemy infantry with the exception of a few unlucky ones that were trampled underfoot.

"Where are we going?" The vixen sitting in his lap asked noting they were heading deeper into the enemy's lines.

Jacob decided that since she was sharing his cockpit with him she was now technically part of the mission so had no problems telling her the details. "We have to take out a nearby anti-air site to allow the ship in orbit to deploy infantry squads to the surface. The AA vehicle should be… ah, there she is!"

As their Titan rounded a corner, they saw a vehicle with a large mounted missile system on its roof that was currently panning around for targets. Nearby were three infantry squads, two main battle tanks, and three APC's normally a very well-fortified position however for a Titan it was just another target-rich environment. Jacob wasted no time in charging toward the enemy position while simultaneously locking the three APC's with his missile system and opening fire with his chain gun at the enemy infantry.

The enemy had little time to react as all three APC's where suddenly blown to smithereens sending shrapnel and flames flying everywhere whilst large-caliber electrified rounds ripped though their ranks and through what minimal cover they tried to scramble behind. All the while the tank attempted to turn its turret toward the rapidly approaching metal monstrosity but just as its gun lined up with the figure only fifty yards away the large behemoth did something none their thought possible and jumped.

Jacob gave a savage grin as his Titan came crashing down onto the enemy tank crushing it and causing it t explode around his titan's form which drained his shields down by half, but it was worth it to demoralize the remaining enemies. His methods were proven correct as the remaining squad and a half of infantry dropped their weapons and surrendered at seeing his titan's undamaged form emerge from the explosion. Satisfied that the enemy was pacified Jacob walked his titan to the SAM system whose crew abandoned the vehicle and joined their allies before Jacob strapped his chain gun back to its mount and pulled out a large serrated combat knife from his titan's right thigh.

Jacob maneuvered the titan to gripping the missile racks of the enemy vehicle before his other arm maneuvered the knife into the enemies hull, the high-frequency edge of the knife easily cutting through the armor before finishing through and severing off the missile racks from the rest of the vehicle. Tossing the missile racks away like an unwanted can Jacob opened up his communications channel. "Cerberus to Red Eye, mission accomplished enemy SAM position neutralized and friendly secured I have POW's on my position and am awaiting reinforcements."

He didn't have to wait long for a response "Copy that Cerberus, the other finished up their objectives too. Drop pods are falling now. Stand by."

Jacob and Ember watched as above hundreds of pods came roaring down from the sky before slowing down before hitting the surface with a jarring impact. As soon as they landed the ten pods that landed near them discouraged four armored humans that rapidly spread out with two groups securing the prisoners. Suddenly a voice belonging to the commanding officer of the nearby infantry broke over their comm "This is Hammer 3-4 we're your support, sir. Orders from HIGH COM are to advance and destroy the hostile forces at the city perimeter."

Jacob nodded before looking at Ember while opening his hatch. "Looks like this is your stop miss. Join the marines, for now, we're not done fighting today." Ember nodded before disembarking with Jacob closing the hatch behind her and redrawing his chin gun. "Alright, Hammer 3-4 let's find us some action!"

"YES SIR!" was the unanimous shout as the thirty marines, the lone Cerinian, and the Titan moved away and toward the sounds of gunfire.

X Cornerian FOB Pay Dirt X

Jeffery O'Hare had been covering the ongoing ground battle since its beginning from the relative safety of the Cornerian FOB located just a mile away from the beach that Cornerian forces had initially landed on. He was sitting off in a corner of the command center with his cameraman listening to communications from the front and when something especially interesting happened he and his cameraman would interview on of the officers that could be spared on the situation. It was because of this special position that the newsman saw General Dustin Durrow a middle-aged Labrador receive a private message on his terminal which caused him to curse just before reports of giant metal behemoths raining from the sky came through the comm. O'Hare had signaled his cameraman to begin filming just as the general turned to his command staff as more and more reports began to flood in.

"Sir, Barker company reports 70% casualties and that they are falling back!"

"Enemy forces have broken through the 35th and pushing our supply lines!"

"Sir. All forces in the city report heavy casualties and are requesting reinforcements!"

"Sir, our anti-air positions have been overrun by the enemy!"

This last call seemed to do it for the General who squared his shoulders and gave an order all military men hated "Order a General retreat, fall back to the FOB and dig in! Have whatever armor we have left to pull back as well and to group together and if they see one of those behemoths to focus on one simultaneously." The general ordered before noticing the reporter in the corner. "Mr. O'Hare there is a shuttle still at the landing zone, take my personal vehicle and get you and your cameraman off-planet."

Jeffery looked startled "But General" he was cut off by Dustin who raised a paw for him to stop.

"Reports from orbit say another much larger fleet has appeared in orbit and is cutting through our forces. Our transport ships have already been forced to retreat and a number of them have been destroyed. We're not going to win this especially now that the enemy can bring in air support so if you want to get out of here you have to do so now." The General didn't mince words as an aid ran over and gave him a helmet which he strapped on before pulling his sidearm out and striding out of the tent.

O'Hare looked at his cameraman and both sprinted out of the command tent and toward a jeep parked nearby. Around them, the FOB's defensive garrison and its staff were erecting defenses and stockpiling ammo for what was no doubt a last defensive stand. The two piled into the jeep as the staff officer behind the wheel looked at them then at the general who nodded before the officer floored the gas and sped out of the FOB toward the beach.

X Cerinian Orbit X

Russ wheeled the fighter around and let loose another volley of fire from his GAT cannon which streaked through space and tore into another enemy fighter that exploded into a yellow fireball for a split second before the vacuum of space extinguished it. The Raven, like many of his fellow human pilots, had followed one of the frigate packs through a slipspace portal and directly into the middle of the enemy fleet so their bombers could wreak havoc with the enemy ships whilst the fighters dealt with the enemy strike craft.

Russ knew that this battle was pretty much over with the initial enemy fleet being in utter chaos and the second fleet being coordinated but unable to deal with humanities superior numbers and technology. As he surveyed the battle Russ did notice an enemy frigate pack putting up a good showing while defending their two remaining troop carriers, having managed to destroy the human frigate engaging them and now dissuading the human bomber squadrons from their troop carriers with walls of laser fire and putting themselves between the bombers and their targets. Russ had to tip his hat to whoever was their commander since they had managed to not lose a single vessel yet thought they had taken heavy damage.

Suddenly his ships AI suddenly gave him an alert "WARNING REGISTERING A LARGE RADIATION SPIKE FROM ENEMY VESSEL"

Russ immediately wheeled around and saw the designated ship his AI had indicated. The vessel was of a different design than the rest and was the same vessel that had wiped out the Solace however the energy levels he was picking up far outclassed the ones he got when it fired its main weapon. Seeing the crystal in the center of the ship glow an ominous orange and begin to fracture Russ had a sudden realization of what was about to happen the same time that Vice-Admiral Steel did as his voice shouted over an open channel "ALL SHIPS DISENGAGE AND REROUTE ALL POWER TO SHIELDS NOW!"

Russ cursed as he diverted all power to his engineers and thrusters before beelining it toward a nearby human cruiser which had its hangar doors open for the fleeing human strike craft whose shields would likely not hold up to a wave of radiation as powerful as what was likely to hit. Russ flew in and landed with a number of other fighters just as the enemy ship's crystal exploded in a glob of orange light before a wave or radiation exploded outward. Russ's view was cut off as the cruiser closed its hanger doors.

All around the battle area captains of all races desperately did what they could to shield their crews from the blast that destroyed the ship it originated from before expelling a ridiculous amount of radiation outward in all directions. The Lylatian ships who had no chance to defend themselves as the radiation seemed to pass right through their shields before passing through their ships and their crews who began writing in pain as the radiation burned their insides with its corrosive touch. The human vessels fair a great deal better with their shields being made to withstand all types of radiation, that said a number of vessels whose shields had been taken out suffered just as much as the Cornerians did. The various strike craft who hadn't made it to a nearby ship in time and whose shields couldn't stand up to the raw amount of radiation leaving their pilots screaming in the cockpit as their craft sped aimlessly through space some crashing into other ships mercifully ending the pilot's torment.

Rachel Halsey and her pack of frigates should have suffered the same fate if not for their Rachels quick thinking and their position away from the rest of the fleet. As soon as Halsey had registered the human commanders order her sensors officer had noticed the danger and informed her that Andross's ship was about to kill them all. Knowing her ships couldn't handle the radiation the ship would produce she noted an enemy cruiser opening a purple portal to escape along with nearby fighters going through the portal. Halsey immediately ordered her ships to cease fire and make full speed to the portal along with the troop carriers. As the Xerta exploded and the wave of radiation spewed forth Halsey's frigates and troop carriers plunged through the portal, the human captain likely taking pity on the Lylatians and allowing them through the portal unmolested before moving his ship through and closing it behind them before the radiation could reach them. Halsey's taskforce would find themselves at the edge of the system surrounded by enemy fighters and bombers as well near an enemy ship but neither side would fire, both commanders having judged the battle over for themselves.

For the troops on the ground, a warning of the impending disaster was given a scant five minutes before the radiation wave arrived. For the typical ground forces, there would be nowhere to hide as the radiation passed through them though weakened by Cerinia's atmosphere to the point of only three hundred miles of the planets surface being affected. Though the capital was in the center of this area and thus received a full blast of the radiation. The Cerinian's suffered the effects alongside their human allies some finding a small comfort with the alien next to them either holding onto each other as they both writhed in agony. There were some however that didn't suffer the effects.

When the warning was given Titan pilot Jacob hunt knew that the shield of titans was protected from radiation and gave another shout over the comm "ALL FORCES GROUP UP AROUND THE NEAREST TITAN! PILOTS MAX POWER TO SHIELD DOME'S!" The other pilots quickly understood and just before the wave reached them their colossal machines of war spread out their arms and formed protective bubbles around themselves and what friendlies huddled around their feet. Ember and the marines she had been fighting alongside with had been protected by Cerberus's shield dome and thus watched as the energy passed over them harmlessly. After five minutes Jacob would note the radiation rapidly die off until it was at safe levels before dropping the dome and allowing his allies to care to their suffering allies and enemies as Jacob called the fleet for all available medical teams.

In orbit after the radiation had subsided a prerecorded message began to play on all channels "This is Lord Andross to all of those vermin that can still hear me, for long have I suffered under the yoke of ignorant minds who dared to hold back my genius. Now finally I break free from your shackles to achieve my destiny. Now I will have you suffer for your transgressions across your worlds and fleets of pathetic ships. Know that though I now leave my efforts this day have laid the foundation for my return to assume my rightful place as your lord. The Lylat system and beyond will bend the knee to me and those who swear allegiance to me. ALL HAIL ANDROSS!"

Vice-Admiral Steel sneered at the sheer arrogance of this Andross before signaling his comms officer "Tell all forces to stand down, this battle is over. Send a message to the enemy fleet that we are open to a cease-fire agreement in light of recent events, but should they make to board any of our vessels or land on Cerinia we will resume hostilities."

The comms officer relayed the message before pausing to listen to a pained and haggard voice from the second enemy fleet. "Sir, I have an Admiral Pepper on the line agreeing to cease hostilities and asking for assistance recovering their space-born forces."

Steel huffed "Tell him we will recover our own first but afterward will provide them with aid. Send a third of our medical teams to the surface along with a couple of detachments of marines to capture POW's, I have a few questions for these Lylatians." The Vice-Admiral paused before leaving the bridge and marching down to his quarters and to a private communications terminal used for private comms. Activating it and imputing the receiving address he began his debriefing "My Emperor, it is my unfortunate duty to inform you of the catastrophe that has occurred over the planet known as Cerinia…"

 **Aaaannnnddddd done! Well, that chapter took forever to go through, but this now officially ends the contact ark of the story. Took forever but I wanted to wrap up the battle and I had to not include some bits, but I got it done! So yes, human military technology is a mix of Halo for space forces and Titanfall for ground forces. It should be noted that the Titans and ships are more advanced than their canon counterparts as humanity has just got out of centuries of warfare with said technology, suffice to say a lot of them have been improved to meet the demands of those wars. The next chapter will cover the years between this conflict and the next ark while also including the after-action results of the battle. Some of it will be in timeline format as there is a lot to go over.**

 **Anyway, till next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Winds of Change

**Chapter 5: Winds of Change**

Admiral Pepper sighed as he seated himself in Corneria's Council Chamber. Usually, this large stone room would house fifty to eighty delegates and politicians from all over Lylat, now however there was only a fraction of that number though the individuals present were of a bit higher prominence. These individuals were here to begin the first official talks between the Lylat system and the ESA since the conflict known as the First Contact War that ended as quickly as it began two years ago.

From a purely military standpoint, the Corneria Military had been soundly defeated losing four battleships, ten cruisers, twenty-four frigates, eight corvettes, and two hundred and eighty-seven strike craft. All told they had sustained 8924 eight thousand nine hundred and twenty-four naval deaths, and ten thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven army deaths. This meant that the third fleet and all Corneria's ground forces had been nearly wiped out. Though much of the ground forces and a good chunk of the space forces were from Andross and not the human military forces.

The battle had ended after Andross had detonated his radiation device not only over Cerinia but also from devices all over the Lylat system. The devices had not only nearly wiped out Lylat's Military forces but also caused appalling civilian casualties. From what Lylat's scientist could determine the weapon targeted DNA and the internal organs of the affected organisms. In total the Lylat people had lost fifty-four percent of its entire population. Especially hard hit was the male population which had suffered eighty percent casualties as opposed to the female's twenty-eight percent. This loss of population had caused major social and cultural changes grief and anger had taken over the Cornerian people who took it out on their governments. Mass rioting and protests ran amok that had to be put down harshly by the governments with Macbeth being the standout by using their military to exile many protesters to Venom.

As for the main perpetrator Andross there was no sign as the ape had disappeared and even now his name was spoken in feared whispers amongst the citizenry. In addition to the rioting, government planners had desperate shortages of the population to recover and so had loosened labor laws and provide incentives for women to join a desperate workforce. They had also reinstated old laws like the Pack law and provided tax cuts to families with children to help bolster their populations though it would be decades for those numbers to get back to their previous levels. The drain this had caused to both politicians and military authorities had frayed many of their nerves. That above all else was why the meeting now was restricted to only the highest echelons of the governments of Lylat.

Pepper himself was here to represent the Corneria Military in the coming talks and so was dressed in his crimson red dress uniform with his rank and medals displayed prominently. Next to him in a professional-looking suit that still managed to hint at the curves contained within sat President Jessica Tabby representing the Corneria Government. The two had worked closely together since the end of the First Contact War to the point that they considered the other confidants and friends. Together they had restructured the entire command structure of the Cornerian Military as well as the redistribution of resources and assets to completely change their doctrine.

From a tactical standpoint, the First Contact War had shown crippling flaws in Lylat's ship design, most glaringly the exposed energy crystal that could destroy the whole ship if damaged by minimal incoming fire. Together with some of Corneria's best engineers, they had come up with new ship designs that encased the crystal inside the ship. Though it was cumbersome and required the ship to vent its heat sinks every other day or risk having a meltdown of the crystal's containment unit. Pepper than began the process of rebuilding the entirety of Corneria's fleets with most of the old designs being mothballed and sent to sector X for eventual disassembly. Thankfully Corneria's shipyard in sector Y was automated and so wasn't impacted heavily by the reduction in workforce. Thanks to the robots and Tabby's reallocation of materials Pepper had managed to construct a new Navy for Corneria in only two years. However, many could see that the process hadn't fully restored Corneria's military as three out of its four fleets were underequipped and many times crewed by fresh recruits.

President Tabby had known that many serious changes had to be made to the fleet with an experienced hand and so had promoted Admiral Pepper to Grand General giving him overall command and control of all Cornerian military forces. Pepper had used the newfound power to promote the right people and institute a meritocracy-based command structure. Along with this he reorganized the Navy into four fleets and lifted the ban on female recruitment for front line positions.

The 1st fleet commanded by General Pepper himself was stationed in Sector Y at the navel yard there to protect it and allow Pepper to oversee ship construction. The first fleet had the new full complement of 2 Battleships, 1 Carrier, 8 cruisers, 16 frigates, and 9 Corvettes. In addition, the 1st fleet was composed of some of the most experienced soldiers in the navy with many having fought against the humans in the First Contact War.

The 2nd fleet was commanded by Admiral Chester Nimitz a veteran admiral and brilliant strategist. Pepper knew that the old eagle was bold and willing to take risks if he could achieve a victory as well as willing to retreat if necessary or if the situation was too unattainable. His fleet was stationed at the Katina base and was only partially done with 1 Carrier, 3 cruisers, 16 frigates, and 9 Corvettes. One thing the fleet did have however was a plethora of former Army personnel that transitioned over to the Naval branch after the First Contact War. In addition, Nimitz was a brilliant mind at Naval fire support and so had a large complement of Marines along with some of Corneria's best army units.

The 3rd fleet was now commanded by Admiral Terrance Hood and was stationed near the DMZ. The fleet consisted of two battleships, a carrier, 8 cruisers, 16 frigates, and 9 corvettes. Admiral Hood himself was known as a stoic old bear that excelled at defensive strategy and was widely considered as Pepper's heir. Hood had a preference for bolstering his defenses with automated orbital defense platforms that he maintained near the DMZ.

The 4th fleet is brand new and just getting off the production line. It is commanded by newly promoted Admiral Rachel Halsey and is usually on patrol for pirate activity. It has only a single cruiser, 10 frigates, and three corvettes. Halsey is widely considered a radical in the military community not only being the first female Admiral ever she also has proposed numerous new ship designs and doctrines that haven't been accepted outside the 4th fleet. She, however, doesn't see her severely under-equipped force as a detriment however and instead sees it as a chance to build her fleet to her specifications. The ships in her command usually have the latest technology and are crewed by a mix of new recruits and old veterans of the Human/Lylatian war from her own frigate group. She usually now spent her time on Corneria seeking to recruit promising individuals, touring technology expos, and military academies.

Grand Admiral Pepper was broken from his musing by President Tabby's voice "Having deep thoughts Pepper?" Pepper looked over at the female tabby cat next to him who was giving him a small teasing smile but held a caring look in her eyes. Pepper knew that their friendship was bordering on something more but the two had managed to hold back their feelings since a romantic relationship between them would likely be seen by the council as favoritism and a conflict of interests. Still, in times like this where Pepper and Tabby felt the full weight of their positions and responsibilities, they had both taken and given the other comfort and the resolve to face their uncertain future.

Returning the smile Pepper replied "Just thinking of the coming talks Tabby. The only reason we have any room to negotiate with the humans is thanks to Queen Meridia signing an alliance treaty with us." Tabby nodded as the two gave each other's paws a comforting squeeze beneath the desk they sat behind.

The two knew that despite the death toll the people of Lylat had suffered they were still at their heart a caring people, so when the first reports of the fate of Cerinia hit Lylat there was widespread demand to send support. As a result of the conflict and Andross's machinations, the Cerinian's had lost 872 of their one thousand Guardians, their orbital station, and eighteen strike craft. However, the real loss was due to Andross's radiation hitting the planet. Because of their differing biology from Lylatians the Cerinian's death ratio was only in the male portion of the society with 118,000 deaths which equated to losing one in five of all male Cerinian's a ratio that showed that the Cerinian's differing biology had actually helped them fight off the radiation. In addition, the infostructure of the Capital city was in ruins as a direct result of the fighting and with a large portion of the planet's ecosystem was heavily affected by the radiation the decision was made to evacuate Cerinia before it became uninhabitable.

King Dolas, however, was not the one to make this decision however as unfortunately, the radiation had also claimed his life as well. In his stead his wife Queen Meridia had taken over as leader of the Lylat people and after she considered both the Lylat's offer and the humans had decided to make an alliance with the Lylatians. This move was largely governed by the overwhelming support the Lylatian people had given the Cerinian's in terms of medical supplies and food. The fact that Lylat officials had promised their aid in transporting the Cerinian people to a planet within Lylat space they could call their own, had promised to share their technology, had guaranteed to aid in construction of infrastructure on the new planet, and had promised the Cerinian's equal representation to any other people of Lylat had swayed the Queen to side with the Lylatians for the good of her people.

This move had not gone over well with the Cerinian people however who saw this as a betrayal of the soldiers who had fought and died alongside theirs in defense of their planet. Pepper had even heard rumors of the Queen's own daughter disproving of the move. However, the Queen was resolute in her decision and soon the Lylatian people were transported to the Dinosaur planet called Sauria were they built their civilization along the Eastern side of the planets mega continent with the aid of many of the planets native tribes and to avoid conflict with the native Sharp-Claw tribe who opposed the colonization.

The humans, on the other hand, got the short end of the stick in the immediate wake of the war. The humans had suffered 1,658 civilian deaths between the civilian transport destroyed in space and the deaths of all the civilians in the Cerinian bunker due to the radiation. They had also lost two frigates, four corvettes, and forty-seven strike craft. All told the humans had suffered 4,043 military deaths mostly on the ground and had nothing to show for it other than what they had managed to salvage from space. Immediately after combat had ended human salvage crews had combed over the wreckage in space both Cerinian and Lylatian. While outwardly they said this was to find survivors Pepper suspected that much of Lylatians tech and biology was being studied somewhere in human space.

As a result of Cerinia's alliance with Lylat the humans Emperor had set up the DMZ and placed an embargo on travel across the DMZ unless given permission by both governments. Though Pepper noted that Cerinia was on the human side of the DMZ and human military vessels consistently patrolled the border. Pepper suspected this was the human's way of spiting the Cerinian's though he was more relieved that the humans had allowed the Cerinian evacuation to go through unmolested and helped when needed along with returning any P.O.W.'s they had.

Pepper and the rest of the assembly stopped their conversation when the room's lights darkened indicating that the transmission from the humans was arriving and that they needed to take their seats. The assembly quickly took their positions and squared their shoulders in an attempt to look much more confident then they were in meeting the leader of the ESA for the first time. Soon the holoprojector in the center of the room sparked to life and the assembly was greeted by what could only be described as an emperor or god.

The male human had pale skin that highlighted his short wavy golden hair. His vivid purple eyes scanned the crowd judging all that dared match his gaze before they turned away unable to maintain contact with the man's soul-searing gaze. His pale lips quirked in a small smile as if he found their attempted courage amusing. He was clad in vibrant red and gold robes with small shoulder pauldrons etched with flowing designs that screamed nobility and elegance. The man's majesty was only highlighted by the large golden throne he sat in incrusted with precious gems that sparkled with awe-inspiring luster.

Many of the Lylatians saw the wealth and regality of the human before them but Pepper saw the look in the man's eyes and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man before them was a military leader. Someone who led armies at the front, calculating, intelligent, bold, and likely capable of being utterly ruthless. Pepper had seen many individuals with one or two of these traits but never had he seen a single being that had all of these traits to such a high degree. Pepper became nervous if he wasn't sure about fighting the humans before it was now cemented how bad an idea it was if they were led by this man.

"Greetings" Tabby welcomed after she regained her voice "I am President Tabby of the Cornerian Government. I and my fellows would like to thank you for your time speaking with us today. We hope this meeting will take steps toward a more stable and warm relationship with the ESA and Lylat. May I have your name, good sir?" Tabby asked after giving the prepared introduction.

The man remained silent for a couple of seconds as he gazed at the female tabby cat who was becoming more and more nervous at the man's gaze and silence before his lips parted and he began to respond.

"Greetings politicians of Lylat, I am Emperor Arthur Durham of the Earth Sphere Alliance. I would say it's a pleasure meeting you, but I won't bother lying to you. I am here to negotiate an official cease-fire as demanded by my station and pave the way for more stable relations to save me the hassle of deploying military forces to Lylat in retaliation for your attack on my people." The man said his words captivating them with the authority in every syllable but also quaking at their bite and thinly restrained disdain.

Tabby nodded shakily "Y-yes of course. We again send our deepest apologies to the human people of the death of the military personnel and civilians that perished as a result of our lack of foresight and the traitor Andross's machinations. I assure you, Emperor Durham, that the Lylatian people want nothing more than to have peaceful relations with Humanity and the Cornerian government will do everything in its power to make amends with the ESA and its people to achieve that brighter future."

Emperor Durham scoffed "The civil revolts on your worlds and the open talks of war with my people say otherwise about your people's intentions President, and there is nothing your government can do to replace what was lost that day to my species. What you can do is comply with my requests as a gesture of your intentions to make peace with my people."

Pepper and the rest of the assembly shot uneasy looks at each other both concerned that this negotiation was more looking like more a demand and that the ESA knew of the goings-on within Lylat space. Tabby nodded hesitantly "Then what are your demands?"

Emperor Durham leaned back in his chair seemingly now bored "I am going to be married in a little less than two years and as part of the ceremony was going to announce the opening of an embassy on Corneria as part of an effort to rebuild relations between our peoples. The first demand is that the Cornerian Government builds the embassy to our specifications within your capital city and prepares to give diplomatic status to two individuals that will be representing my government. The second demand is that both representatives will be added to the senior class of the Lylat Academy." The Emperor paused seeing Pepper stand up to get his attention "You have a question Admiral?"

Pepper nodded "Yes I wanted some clarification that the diplomats you are sending are students and you want them studying alongside our military students?"

The Emperor nodded "Yes both individuals have yet to graduate from an academic institute and both are students of warfare. I believe that the chance for them and your own students to learn from each other will benefit both parties. Of course, I would expect all the benefits of a foreign diplomat to be given to them in addition to their student materials. My people will handle all logistical and supply needs for them and the embassy once it's operational. To that end, my third demand is that a single ship is allowed access to the Lylat system and allowed to move freely through the DMZ. The ship will be only a corvette weight by your standards and armed with only defensive weaponry and the two individuals' personal craft in case of emergency."

Pepper decided to interrupt here "Personal craft, are your two diplomates prospective pilots?" The Emperor nodded and Pepper continued "That's understandable that they would want their own craft but as a forewarning, the Academy uses simulators programmed with the new Arwing schematics so they won't be able to use their craft unless deemed appropriate by the instructor."

The Emperor nodded "That is acceptable and should not be a problem, one of the individuals has volunteered to take your academies infantry course while the other is more than capable of learning to fly your 'Arwing'. We will send any additional details later, but do you agree to the terms as stated now?" the Emperor asked leaning forward to regard them with a piercing stare.

The Assembly looked between themselves and nodded before Tabby turned toward the Emperor and squared her shoulders "We find these terms agreeable and will accept them. I am sure that your delegates will enjoy their stay on Corneria and report back that we are sincere in our strives for peace between our species."

The Emperor nodded and replied "We will certainly see" before the transmission cut off and the holoprojector turned off. In the following silence, Tabby turned to Pepper and in a very business-like and demanding tone "Admiral I don't care who they are or their background but I want you to put the best and brightest we have in that class. This is our one chance to impress these delegates and I have no delusions that they will be assessing our military strength as we will be theirs. I'll get everything squared away on my end but you have to get that year's students and faculty ready for them. Our young will not only be under the eyes of our people but also the eyes of a potential enemy. They must not be found wanting by either."

Pepper nodded "Of course, I'll start preparations immediately."

: Earth Throne Room of the Emperor:

The emperor leaned back in his chair and turned to the elderly man next to him "Well that went about as expected, at least they know they didn't have the option of refusing our demands."

The elderly man next to him nodded from his mobile chair, his bearded weathered face steeped in wisdom and blank from emotion. "Indeed, my emperor, they know that they cannot win a conflict between us and likely are trying to buy time to continue rebuilding their military. I have no doubt that they want to utilize this opportunity to asses our strength against their new teaching and system. They will send their best and brightest against our representatives."

The Emperor nodded "Yes, but of course we will do the same" he said while bringing up four profiles on a small projector attached to his throne. Before the two men where pictures and information of four individuals that they would be sending to Lylat.

The elderly man spoke "Emanuel Sebastian a rising star in the engineering world and 3rd generation mechanic. He's a natural-born human from Earth and his skills will be a great asset as support and for analysis of any technology, our representative might 'acquire' while on Corneria. However, he tends to ramble when invested in a project and has issues with authority so he will likely be staying within the embassy itself and working in his lab." The Old man paused before swiping to the next individual. Bravo 190 affiliated with the IMC and classified as an altered human. He was genetically modified with various creatures DNA as part of a former GENTECH scientist working for the Conclave. He managed to escape years later and fell in with the IMC as an infiltration expert. While his physical capabilities are considerable his true calling is systems hacking and electronic warfare. Because of this and his rather disconcerting physical appearance, he will be also working at the embassy as security and electronic support for our delegates. We should likely keep his existence a secret for the larger Cornerian populace to avoid any awkward questions."

The emperor nodded "Ah yes, is he not my fiancé's pet project?"

The elderly man nodded "Yes lady Cinder has taken it upon herself to act as the boy psychologist and benefactor. She believes that this mission will help him learn to work with others and expand his horizons." The elderly man nodded before turning to the last two profiles "And here are our tow 'diplomates' to the Lylatians. First is Pilot Jacob Hunt of the Frontier Militia. He's our 'pilot' who 'volunteered' to take the infantry course. He is a Combat Clone created sixty-three years ago and fought in the founding war as a titan pilot and gained some recognition for his anti-piracy actions. As a Combat Clone, he's the group's muscle and has top tier physical prowess and a plethora of combat experience. His Titan is a Vanguard Sierra Class called Roxy and the pair callsign is War Dog. His only vice seems to be drinking but he also has been noted to have a rather defined personality for a clone."

The Emperor nodded "Good that will serve well for my goals. What of the other pilot?"

The Elderly man nodded "Yes Russ 713 part classification Combat Clone. He's part of the infamous Russel series of clone created and from what we can tell is the only remaining one still in active combat roles. He's a Raven's Loft mercenary and founding member. Ninety-three years of age and with the highest reflexes and combat experience of the group. He's seen combat during the Clone War as part of his majesty's own fleet and later work as a mercenary in the Founding wars. He flies a Dire Wolf fighter craft of the now-defunct Rosenthal corporation and goes by the call sign Fenrir."

The emperor nodded and turned to the elderly man "Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't the Dire Wolf the craft you designed personally Ray Leonard?"

The now identified elderly Ray Leonard scoffed "Of course it is and now that pitiful excuse of a megacorp that stole the design is gone and buried. Fitting that my design would be used by a member of the Russel series of clones."

The emperor nodded "The best-designed ship of the famous engineer and soldier Ray Leonard and the Clone series made by the man's own genetic blueprint. Quite the combination I must say, tell me he is your designated heir is he not?"

Ray Leonard nodded "Yes, he is of my blood and has passed the requirements I had for my chosen heir. Upon my death, he will inherit everything."

The emperor gave a smirk as he stared at the four individuals' pictures "Good, contact all four and send them a job offer make the pay… substantial. Then I would like to meet them."

Ray Leonard nodded "Of course my Emperor."

 **Aaaaaaannnnnnnnndddddd Chapter!**

 **Well everyone this concludes the prelude to the start of the first school ark and gave a little background of our main characters Russ and Jacob along with supporting characters like Bravo and Emanuel. I hope you all had amazing holiday season and happy new year.**

 **So until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review!**


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